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January 31, 2012, Images from Syria
Posted by Richard Brody

Ossama Mohammed

There’s an open letter by Syrian artists published today in Le Monde—the filmmakers Hala Alabdalla and Ossama Mohammed, the actress Reem Ali, and the cartoonist Ali Ferzat are among its first fifty signatories—titled “Deliver Syria So That It Regains the Right to Live and to Create!”….

Top news: Arab and Western states spent Tuesday calling on the U.N. Security Council to adopt a resolution urging Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to step down and delegate power to his deputy over his crackdown on an 11-month-old uprising, which has grown increasingly violent. But Russia and China, both veto-wielding Security Council members, remain unconvinced.

Vladimir Chizhov, Moscow’s envoy to the European Union, explained on Wednesday that Russia would veto the draft resolution unless it explicitly ruled out military intervention in Syria, while Li Baodong, the Chinese ambassador to the United Nations, told the Security Council that China opposed the “use of force” and “pushing for forced regime change” in Syria. “Behind all the arguments lurked the ghost of Libya,” the New York Times observes.

SNC News

Bahiya Mardini catalogs the growing differences that are dividing members of the Syrian National Council, the main opposition organization that Washington is cultivating. They are fighting over finances, which are not transparent. They are also fighting over the proper relationship with Syria’s growing militias, which seek to coordinate under the umbrella organization of the Free Syrian Army.

Rebels Without a Clue: Why can’t the Syrian opposition get its act together?
BY JUSTIN VELA | JANUARY 31, 2012 – Foreign Policy

Muqdad’s frustration with the Syrian National Council (SNC), the body intended to serve as the political representation of the Syrian opposition, has grown. He has diligently traveled around Turkey, arranging coverage of the Syrian uprising by major media outlets, holding meetings in Western embassies, and coordinating with activists inside the country. In the meantime, he has come to see the SNC as disorganized, disconnected from the Syrians on the ground, and out of step with the broad spectrum of Syrian society.

“We know it is impossible to be 100 percent representative of the nation or the opposition,” Muqdad told me. “[But the SNC] does not know the principles of running the opposition.” …

It’s not only Muqdad whose initial optimism regarding Syria’s organized opposition has faded. A wide range of activists and diplomats are voicing concerns with the SNC, criticizing its lack of cohesion and effectiveness. While the majority of them have not given up on the council, they paint a picture of an organization out of touch with the protesters on the ground and dominated by the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood.

“No one from the SNC has influence inside Syria. Most members of the SNC are jumping on a train that started from the street,” says Ammar Qurabi, a Syrian human rights activist, arguing that SNC leaders are trying to use the momentum of the demonstrations to take political power. Qurabi refuses to work with the SNC and plans to launch his own opposition group in early February

The SNC is composed of a nine-person executive committee, sitting on top of an approximately 250-person body. The organization’s leadership is primarily made up of Sunni Arabs, and though it has made an effort to include members of other sects and ethnicities, few are present on the council.

Qurabi notes that the SNC has been particularly negligent in incorporating members of Assad’s Alawite sect. “No Alawite on the executive council — that is a scandal,” he says. “Especially when we fight Assad, who says, ‘I am Alawite. I protect Alawites’?” ….

“The Free Syrian Army could leave them in the dust unless the SNC can do something for the FSA,” the diplomat worries. …

One particularly damaging stumble occurred when SNC Chairman Burhan Ghalioun signed a draft agreement with the National Coordination Committee,..

The most divisive issue surrounding the SNC, however, clearly remains the prominent role played by the Muslim Brotherhood. “The Muslim Brotherhood is the only party in town,” says the Ankara-based Western diplomat. …

Muqdad’s initial optimism about the SNC faded, he says, when he realized the extent of the Brotherhood’s dominance. While he has been in close touch with Western diplomats, he thinks that non-SNC members have been blocked from speaking publicly and that the SNC takes credit for activities that it was not involved in.

“We have no problem with [the Brotherhood] as a political party,” explains Muqdad, a Sunni Muslim who joined the opposition in 1999 and claims to have spent years living underground. “[But] they are using the wrong ways to lead.” …

The Brotherhood’s prominence has also opened old wounds with former members of the Syrian military, who had counted the Islamist movement as its primary domestic foe before the current revolt. A defected Syrian soldier in the Free Officers Movement, which is aligned with the Free Syrian Army but does not take orders from it, describes the Brotherhood as “malignant.”

“[The Free Officers Movement] has a limited relation with the SNC because they are controlled by the Muslim Brothers,” he told me.

The officer, a Sunni, said that the Brotherhood’s presence was particularly problematic in Syria due to the large number of minorities in the country. It would be difficult to convince minorities, especially the Alawites, that their rights would be guaranteed with the Muslim Brotherhood steering the political opposition, he says.

Mohammed Farouk Tayfour, the deputy secretary-general of Syria’s Muslim Brotherhood, insists that his movement will cooperate fairly with other opposition groups. …

“All Syrians have the mentality that they want to be president,” Muqdad says. “Except me. I want to be on Miami Beach.”

(Reuters) – Militiamen loyal to President Bashar al-Assad killed 14 members of a Sunni family in the city of Homs on Thursday in one of the grizzliest sectarian attacks in the ten-month uprising raging in the Alawite-dominated country, activists and residents said….
“Alawites who had remained in Karm al-Zeitoun mysteriously left four days ago, and the rumor was that they did so on orders by the authorities. Today we know why,” said a doctor in the district who did not want to be named.

“We also have seventy people wounded. Field hospitals themselves are coming under mortar fire,” he said. Hamza, an activist in Homs said that the attack was “pure revenge” for shabbiha members being killed by army defectors loosely grouped under the Free Syrian Army.

He said Sunni families were fleeing Karm al-Zeitoun to other parts of the city, and several Sunni neighborhoods, such as Bab Sbaa, also came under fire. Tit-for-tat sectarian killings began in Homs four months ago, following armored military assaults on Sunni areas of the city by forces led by members of Assad’s minority Alawite sect.

Mass killings have included Alawites in micro-buses on the way to their villages near Homs and Sunnis stopped at a roadblock while heading to work at a factory. Women from the two sects have been abducted and killed also, activists said.

The killings have raised the prospect of the pro-democracy protest movement against Assad turning into a civil war, as his opponents take up arms and fight back against loyalist forces cracking down on demonstrators.

A new jihad group, Jabhat Al-Nusra Li-Ahl Al-Sham, (“The Front for the Protection of the Syrian People”) whose goal is to topple the Syrian regime, has released a video announcing its establishment. The 16-minute video, which was produced by the group’s media company Al-Manara Al-Baida (“White Lighthouse”), was posted January 24, 2012 on the jihadi forum Shumoukh Al-Islam after a two-day promotion campaign that included large banners and a countdown to the release….

In Homs, members of the same minority sect to which Assad himself belongs kidnap Sunni Muslims. Those who are part of the Sunni majority, backbone of protests against 42 years of autocratic Assad family rule, go after Alawites.

So far, sectarian violence and killing are rarely the goals of the abductions. But the kidnapping trend in the city of one million people, Syria’s third largest, has taken on a logic of its own.

Some seize people for money in Homs, where the bloody turmoil paralysing the city has left thousands jobless. Others kidnap to trade hostages. And some simply feel that having captives on hand could serve as leverage later. Residents say police write reports but never take action. “There is no one to complain to. There’s no law. You either sit and wait for God’s mercy, or you kidnap too. Homs is now in the hands of hooligans. Rationality is gone,” said Jamal, 30, an Alawite driver held for five days.

Stories like his are hard to verify, as government restrictions and the ongoing violence curb media access. But human rights groups and the government itself have chronicled dozens of kidnapping cases. All of those interviewed spoke by Skype, to avoid the telephone monitoring of security services. In Homs, near-empty streets are patrolled by jittery soldiers hiding behind stacked sandbags. Residents shut themselves inside by dusk to avoid kidnappers waiting under the cover of darkness.

Even going out in the daytime is risky now. Jamal was kidnapped at noon. “I was driving out of the market. Four men with Kalashnikovs waved me down. I sped away because I knew what would happen.” But a hidden car raced out of an alley and cut him off. “They dragged me out of my car and beat me. They took my two mobile phones, 2,500 liras ($40) in my pocket and my shoes.” Jamal was then taken to a house where he was crammed into a room with 10 other Alawites, held hostage for days on end. “It was the house of a guy people call ‘The Frowner’. He’s a creep. He runs the kidnapping scheme in that neighbourhood. It was such a farce, I stopped worrying I would die,” he said.

The kidnappers let Jamal call his family and tell them they needed to pay 150,000 lira (around $2,500) for his release and another 300,000 to get back his car. “My family is poor. They don’t have much money, so they talked to some of the Alawite thugs in our neighbourhood hoping to get some Sunnis released in exchange for me,” Jamal said.

In places like Homs, the cradle of the uprising, the writing is on the wall for the rest of the country. Some neighborhoods have thrown out the government completely, such as in the Baba Amr district, where the Free Syrian Army has control. Communities have divided on sectarian lines. Many Christians have fled to Damascus. Garbage is piled high in the streets, electricity is cut, civilian causalities mount, and on the other side of the impromptu front-line barricades, the death toll of government soldiers creeps up as well.

A drive around Homs reveals a medieval-style siege, multiple checkpoints to move between neighborhoods, even a deep new ditch in places rings the city. But the uprising continues.

The opposition in Homs is better organized. A new council has been formed, it has a budget — money, some say, is coming from the Gulf — and runs medical and humanitarian supplies.

But the council is not the only show in town. Salafists are moving in too, Islamic radicals, many with terror tactics honed in neighboring Iraq. Reports abound of infighting both inside and outside Syria, the hard-liners already jockeying for post-al-Assad power.

If war escalates, as it surely seems it will, expect a long and bloody campaign. As the man in the middle I met on my way back to London told me: “We are afraid of the men with guns, afraid the radicals will impose their backwards views on us.”

Western military involvement would worsen violence, not end it, and could spread the conflict beyond Syria’s borders.

Supporters of Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad attend a rally in Damascus / Reuters

I was living in Syria the last time that the world was talking about President Bashar al-Assad’s imminent demise. With neighboring Iraq’s Saddam Hussein (a Ba’ath party leader, like Assad) overthrown, many of my students at the University of Damascus anticipated that soon we could remove the portraits of Assad from our classrooms. For encouraging dissent, I was monitored by the dreaded secret service, the mukhabarat. During my two-year stay in Syria, I was detained at airports and threatened with deportation if I did not stop calling for democracy. I was branded a CIA agent by regime-loyalist students who objected to my patronage of a student debate society in Damascus — an early attempt to encourage young people to think freely.

I supported the removal of Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq, but I also learned from the many mistakes that followed. Much like Iraq under Saddam, the ruling Ba’ath party in Syria controls almost every aspect of public life: business, military, media, police, education, and even religious institutions. Regime change in Syria would be bloody and protracted. I still maintain frequent contact with friends in Syria, and visited the country regularly until late 2010. When friends in Washington, DC, such as the normally measured Steven Cook present the U.S. with a false choice of intervening militarily or seeing Assad stay in office longer, as he did in a recent article on this site, I worry.

On Tuesday, Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, slammed al-Maliki for his anti-Sunni policies, warning in essence that if the Shiite-dominated army represses Iraq’s Sunnis, Turkey (a Sunni-majority country) would feel constrained to intervene. Turkey has already made military incursions into Iraq in hot pursuit of Kudistan Workers’ Party (PKK) guerrillas who have attacked military and civilian targets in eastern Turkey.

Turkey’s embassy in Baghdad was targeted by (inaccurate) rocket fire twice last week.

Turkey’s Erdogan and Iraq’s al-Maliki are also at odds over Syria, with Erdogan calling for Bashar al-Assad to step down and al-Maliki more or less supporting the al-Assad government. (Al-Maliki is said to fear that the secular Baath Party might be overthrown by Sunni radicals who will give aid to Sunni insurgents in Iraq).

Obama devoted one-and-a-half paragraphs to the uprisings in the Middle East but didn’t explicitly mention America’s role in the military intervention in Libya that toppled Muammar al-Qaddafi — the centerpiece of what some have described as the Obama administration’s doctrine of “leading from behind.”

The takeaway line may have been Obama’s singling out of Syria: “In Syria, I have no doubt that the Assad regime will soon discover that the forces of change can’t be reversed, and that human dignity can’t be denied”

But Obama did not say whether his administration would take any more concrete steps to help Syrian President Bashar al-Assad see the light.

Around60 people have been killed in the restive city of Homs in the past two days ina brutal siege by Syrian security forces and shabbiha, militiamen, according to activists and residents. Residents claim the killings were along sectarian divides, referring to the situation as “racial cleansing.”Reports could not be confirmed, but video showed the bodies of women and children. Meanwhile the Free Syria Army has released a video of seven captured men alleged to be Iranian — five of whom are purported to be members of the Revolutionary Guards — heightening suspicions over Iranian and Hezbollah military support for Syrian regime forces. Also, the United Nations Security Council will hold a meeting today “behind closed doors” on are solution drafted by Morocco on Syria. The resolution would reflect the Arab League proposal calling for President Bashar al-Assad to yield power to his deputy and develop a transitional unity government that would hold elections within two months. Russia and China vetoed a draft resolution in October that would have condemned the regime violence in Syria.Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov said this draft is also “unacceptable“maintaining that the document must rule out the use of force. Russia is believed to likely take issue with another point concerning the prevention of arms transfers. Representatives from the Arab League will meet with the Security Council on Saturday to gain support for its proposals on Syria as the group’s observer mission as been subject to great criticism.

Headlines

A suicide car bomber killed at least 31 people and injured 60 in Iraq at a funeral procession in a Shiite neighborhood in sectarian violence that has seen casualties double those of last January.

Obama devoted one-and-a-half paragraphs to the uprisings in the Middle East but didn’t explicitly mention America’s role in the military intervention in Libya that toppled Muammar al-Qaddafi — the centerpiece of what some have described as the Obama administration’s doctrine of “leading from behind.”

The takeaway line may have been Obama’s singling out of Syria: “In Syria, I have no doubt that the Assad regime will soon discover that the forces of change can’t be reversed, and that human dignity can’t be denied”

But Obama did not say whether his administration would take any more concrete steps to help Syrian President Bashar al-Assad see the light.

On Tuesday, Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, slammed al-Maliki for his anti-Sunni policies, warning in essence that if the Shiite-dominated army represses Iraq’s Sunnis, Turkey (a Sunni-majority country) would feel constrained to intervene. Turkey has already made military incursions into Iraq in hot pursuit of Kudistan Workers’ Party (PKK) guerrillas who have attacked military and civilian targets in eastern Turkey.

Turkey’s embassy in Baghdad was targeted by (inaccurate) rocket fire twice last week.

Turkey’s Erdogan and Iraq’s al-Maliki are also at odds over Syria, with Erdogan calling for Bashar al-Assad to step down and al-Maliki more or less supporting the al-Assad government. (Al-Maliki is said to fear that the secular Baath Party might be overthrown by Sunni radicals who will give aid to Sunni insurgents in Iraq).

Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu’s interview on Al Arabiya channel can be defined as a milestone in Ankara’s Syria politics. Of course, I’m referring to Davutoğlu’s open pronouncement of the possibility of Turkey’s intervention in Syria. Let’s remember the foreign minister’s words first.

“If the regime continues to kill protesters, then this goes beyond being a matter for Turkey but will become an international issue. Then, that case calls for United Nations intervention. Turkey, in the 1980s, called the United Nations to intervene to protect the Kurds from Saddam’s atrocities after the Halabja massacre. If the Arab League initiative fails and murders continue, Turkey will not hesitate to support the U.N. decision that anticipates an intervention in Syria.”

Let’s not be unfair to him. Davutoğlu is talking about an intervention in the case of a situation where several conditions must mature. In other words, the Baath regime will continue to massacre its own people and other initiatives will fail to prevent this. The U.N. will decide on a resolution and Turkey will intervene. (Indeed, here, we need to pay attention to the stress in the sentence “Turkey will not hesitate.”) When the course of events of today is reviewed, we can see that the probability of this scenario of coming true is high.

…..Frankly, Ankara has openly taken a stance against the Bashar al-Assad regime for some time, which personally does not bother me and I think this was way over due. It was more bothersome that close relations with the al-Assad family were established, ….But a significant portion of today’s Syrian opposition segments were nothing more than “Baath lovers” in line with the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government’s approach.

Possible outcomes

It’s obvious that an international intervention, in which Turkey will participate, will create extremely dangerous results and our country will be negatively affected by those. First of all, we face the risk of a sectarian conflict. As Davutoğlu emphasized in the same interview, the Syrian people took to the streets as an extension of the Arab Spring for a more democratic administration to replace the oppressive Baath regime, but in time, the reaction also became directed at not only the political power, but also the Nusayri (Alawite) minority that supported it.

Even though there are more differences than similarities between the Nusayris and the Shiites, this risk should not be completely disregarded given that, together with the effect of the strategic partnership between Tehran and Damascus, Sunni-Nusayri tension in Syria could spread to the entire region as a Sunni-Shiite conflict. There will, necessarily, be reverberations of this bitter development in Turkey.

In the event that an international intervention in Syria (one that could last long) triggers a civil war, the stance to be adopted by the Kurds in this country directly interests Ankara. There are serious claims that the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) has recently re-established very strong relations with the Baath regime and that al-Assad may use this organization as a tool to blackmail Ankara.

As a result, it is good and it is correct to side with the people against the Syrian regime, but it is not wise to side with military intervention.

Ruşen Çakır is a columnist for daily Vatan in which this piece appeared on Jan 23. It was translated into English by the Daily News staff.

President Obama’s promise to bring “strong and stable democracy” to Syria alarms its population, which sees the shining examples of Iraq and Libya and realizes what fate awaits it, says Dr. Ali Muhammad, editor-in-chief of the website Syria Tribune… “Every Syrian knows that the country will never go back to what it was one year ago, but at the same time the change will be decided by the Syrian people, not by the US or anybody else,”argues Dr. Ali Muhammad…..

…Ten months later, I have come to rue those words; but they do, however, capture the ambiguity that many Syrian liberals (like myself) felt about the best way to modernize Syrian society and democratize the Syrian state. We wanted political change, absolutely, but we also coveted stability. And even as the barricades went up on the streets of Cairo and Sana, Tripoli and Tunis, we believed that Damascus and Aleppo, Homs and Hama would be spared such chaos. How wrong we were….

President Obama’s State of the Union address Tuesday evening had much to say about the economy, but relatively little about foreign policy. Yet one line from that brief section stands out: “And in Syria, I have no doubt that the Assad regime will soon discover that the forces of change can’t be reversed, and that human dignity can’t be denied.”

This sentence, which puts the United Stated firmly behind the demise of Bashar al-Assad’s regime, is all the more striking because it followed so closely upon the president’s description of Qadhafi as “gone.” Beyond the mere fact of singling out Syria’s government for such dishonorable mention, Obama’s statement used two very specific words that loom large in a context where every word reflected deliberate decision. First was his use of “soon,” indicating an assessment that Assad does not have much time left in power. Second was “regime,” indicating an official U.S. expectation that not just Assad personally but his whole ruling clique must also go.

Equally significant were the president’s next lines, which suggest that Washington is planning diplomatic rather than direct physical intervention in the Syrian crisis. Affirming that “we have a huge stake in the outcome” of “this incredible transformation” in the Arab region, President Obama nonetheless acknowledged that “its end remains uncertain” and that “it is ultimately up to the people of the region to decide their own fate.” Even so, he asserted that the United States will “stand against violence and intimidation” and “support policies that lead to strong and stable democracies.”

And, in fact, U.S. and international diplomacy aimed at removing Assad is quickly gaining momentum. An Arab League ministerial meeting on January 22 found that the Syrian government’s “partial progress” was “not enough” and urged the establishment within two months of a “national unity government” based on a “serious political dialogue” with the opposition — all under the authority of a vice president, rather than President Assad. Not surprisingly, the Assad regime rejected this plan, arguing that it went beyond the Arab League’s authority, violated Syrian sovereignty, and represented “a conspiratorial scheme hatched against Syria” for foreign intervention “led by the Qatari government.”

At the same time, the League’s report mandates an immediate referral of its plan to the UN Security Council. Qatar’s prime minister and minister of foreign affairs, Hamad bin Jassim, and Arab League secretary Nabil al-Araby are delegated with this task. In anticipation of this maneuver, intense behind-the-scenes Security Council consultations are now underway.

Over the last few days, Western countries led by France have drafted a Security Council resolution, with senior U.S. diplomats involved in these discussions in both Paris and New York. The draft demands that Syria cooperate fully with the UN high commissioner for human rights and the special Commission of Inquiry of the UN Human Rights Council, and allow “full access for humanitarian relief.” It requests the UN secretary-general to support the appointment of a new Arab League special envoy to Syria, which media reports speculate could be Egypt’s Mohammed ElBaradei, to supplement the largely ineffective Arab League monitoring mission in that strife-torn country. And, should the Assad regime fail to comply, the draft “encourages all States” to adopt political and economic sanctions similar to those outlined by the Arab League last November, including cutting ties with Syria’s central bank.

Significantly, the absence of mandatory sanctions from this draft resolution is calculated to help secure the necessary Russian support (or at least abstention) in the Security Council….

The clouds of conspiracy are gathering over Syria. With more than half of Syrians supporting President Bashar Al Assad, there has been a concerted effort by the western media to minimise his domestic support while maximising criticism of his failings. In particular, the effectiveness of the observer mission is questioned, to speed the day when the United Nations authorises Nato intervention and ushers into power a more pro-western Syrian government.

That, at least, is the analysis of the situation that has been best articulated by Jonathan Steele in the Guardian and Aisling Byrne of the Beirut-based Conflicts Forum website. It is not wrong. But it is not right, either. Very few of the separate claims of this theory are inaccurate, but the way they are strung together misses the nature of what is happening in the Levant….

“There are a number of reasons why intervention,today, would be premature…But it may not be premature in a month or in two. The international community must begin considering a variety of military options — the establishment of “safe zones” seems the most plausible — and determine which enjoys the highest likelihood of causing more good than harm. This is now — after nearly a year of waiting and hoping — the right thing to do. It is also the responsible thing to do.”

“Syria rejects the decisions taken which are outside an Arab working plan, and considers them an attack on its national sovereignty and a flagrant interference in internal affairs,” state TV quoted an official as saying.

Grave abuses by both sides – that was the conclusion of the report by the League of Arab States (LAS) monitors. The League’s foreign ministers called on President Bashar al-Assad to delegate power to his vice president and form a national unity government with the opposition.

The Syrian official reacting to the Arab League’s call said the regional body should instead “assume its responsibilities for stopping the financing and arming of terrorists,” the television channel reported.

Who shall we bomb next? Pundits and commentators have begun to fall over themselves declaring the necessity of launching military campaigns against Syria and Iran — the former to prevent a humanitarian disaster and the latter to forestall the development of a nuclear weapon. The catalyst for this enthusiasm is the success of NATO’s aerial campaign in Libya, a war that apparently vindicated the long-standing promise of advanced, precision-guided airpower to cheaply and easily solve inconvenient political problems. Unfortunately, the rediscovered enthusiasm for intervention demonstrates only that the foreign policy punditocracy is committed to serially mislearning the lessons of airpower in war…..

Steven Cook argues that the United States and NATO ought to start seriously discussing intervention in Syria. If not and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is left to massacre his political opponents, he wonders, what message will it send to the international community about the right to protect? Anne-Marie Slaughter reluctantly concurs, suggesting that Western military power could ensure the security of safe harbors and corridors for Syrian civilians. …

Feigning concern for the Syrian people, Max Boot is “glad to see some distinguished friends and colleagues joining the argument that the U.S. needs to do more to bring down Assad.” In a Commentary piece, Boot recommends three articles from the “liberal” end of the regime change spectrum:

First Robert Danin, formerly of the NSC, now at the Council on Foreign Relations, argues that the U.S. can take more non-military action against Assad—viz., recall the U.S. ambassador, threaten to close the U.S. embassy, create an international contact group to handle Syria, provide more support to the opposition, keep Syria on the UN agenda and indict Assad for war crimes. Those all sound like sensible steps to me, although I’m skeptical they will be enough to make the difference.

Another Council colleague, Steve Cook, argues for going further. He believes “it’s time to think seriously about intervening in Syria,” by which he means military intervention along the lines of the Libya model—and acting even without UN authorization.

Anne-Marie Slaughter, former director of policy planning at Hillary Clinton’s State Department, more or less endorses that argument by citing R2P—the doctrine that the international community has a “responsibility to protect” civilians who are being slaughtered by their own governments. She adds, however, that any intervention would have to meet certain conditions: it would have to be requested by the Syrian opposition, endorsed by the Arab League, limited to protecting civilians (not regime change as in Libya), supported by most members of the UN Security Council (even if Russia will never go along), and with Arab and Turkish troops in the lead. All those conditions save the third one make sense to me: if we’re going to act, the best way to alleviate civilian suffering is by removing its cause—the Assad regime.

All three articles are thought-provoking and worth reading. I am heartened to see more interest in helping to topple Assad. But so far little of that interest has come from the Obama White House. Perhaps that will change with more liberal voices, such as these, joining the argument.

Michael Scheuer confirms the United States’ involvement in attempts to overthrow the Syrian regime. He explains Washington’s dilemma in dealing with the Arab Spring and how Washington’s “mindless pursuit of secular democracy” in fact created anarchy and empowered extremist Islamists.

New guidelines on how the Iraqi government’s female employees should dress have caused a furore. The conservative Ministry of Women’s affairs says it is protecting female dignity while women’s rights advocates say it’s an attack on personal freedoms. by Kholoud Ramzi in Baghdad (26.01.2012)more

The foreign affairs council of the EU added 22 persons responsible for “human rights violations” and eight entities “financially supporting the regime” to the list of those subject to an asset freeze and a ban from entering the EU.

This brings the total number of entities targeted by an asset freeze to 38 and the number of people subject to an asset freeze and a visa ban to 108.

In response to the violence in Syria, the EU has gradually imposed a comprehensive set of restrictive measures on Syria, including an arms embargo, a ban on the import of Syrian crude oil and on new investment in the Syrian petrol sector.

EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton said: “Today’s decision will put further pressure on those who are responsible for the unacceptable violence and repression in Syria.”

“The message from the European Union is clear: the crackdown must stop immediately. We will continue to do all we can to help the Syrian people achieve their legitimate political rights,” said Ashton.

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Comments (616)

jadsaid:

I think this post has too many provocative articles to read:

-Re:”Rebels Without a Clue: Why can’t the Syrian opposition get its act together?”

I can’t believe that I’m going to defend the SNC here, but for criticism to be constructive, the media must not play games and have an obvious agenda as this article doing, to criticize SNC they took the opinion of the worst two, Ashraf Moqdad and Ammar Qurabi. both are calling for international intervention and for the full support to the armed militia, while SNC try to maintain the min balance possible and somehow refuse such a disastrous plan those two along Wa7eed Saqer are promoting and attacking the SNC for not being criminal enough for their taste, that is not an objective criticism that is a propaganda.

-Re:Sectarian attack kills 14 of same family in Syria
By Khaled Yacoub Oweis

As usual of the sectarian Khaled, he will report the story that suits his views nothing else, why not putting the other tragedy that did happen the next day in Homs of killing a family with their 4 children in retaliation, for Khaled what matters is to be as much sectarian as possible.

-Re: Thomas Pierret writes that Free Syrian Army members took a tank from loyalist forces and used it against them.

That actually provide evidences that the footage of destroyed buildings we see in the media and the shelling of residential area by tanks may be the work of the FSA not the Syrian Army.

-Re: DIPLOMACY TO REMOVE ASSAD GAINS MOMENTUM, By David Pollock and Andrew J. Tabler
WINEP
I can’t expect anything else from those two Zionist club WINEP writers! Typical neocon propaganda.

– Re:‘Why we have a responsibility to protect Syria’ (Shadi Hamid, The Atlantic)
As Dr’ Abukhalil wrote yesterday
“I was an early supporter of military intervention in Libya. I called for a no-fly zone on February 23, just 8 days after protests began.” Now we know why you are cited right and left in the Western media, and I am sure that you will call for immediately foreign military intervention the second Qatar calls for one. (thanks Khaled)

PS If this guy (and I really don’t know anything about him) or any other guy or gal calls for foreign military intervention to help Palestinians, he/she would not even be allowed to utter the words in Western media.”
————————————–

An interesting article talking about the american newspaper by Dr. Abukhaleil. So true!:

Why I read The New York Times
By As’ad AbuKhalil

“In sum, the NYT is not an enjoyable read for an Arab anti-Zionist. It in fact serves to provoke the reader at different level. What is most provoking in the NYT is its fake and transparent attempt to disguise its strong political biases (very much like Fox News but from a different angle).

So if the current trend continues, and if published newspapers continue to lose revenue, and if the NYT ceases to publish, I won’t mourn its demise. Although, I will have to find new motives for my daily blogging.”

That won’t happen. The Times has so many fans and readers, it can always count on a rich “angel” to bail it out. Most recently, the richest man in the world, Carlos Slim, stepped in to write a check in return for 6 per cent ownership.

Carlos Slim, by the way, is an Arab. His grandfather immigrated to Mexico from Lebanon a century ago.

In commemoration of the 30th anniversary of the Hama massacre, nationwide protests are planned in the coming days as activists slam the silence of the international community during Hafez al-Assad’s bloody rule
AFP , Wednesday 1 Feb 2012

The Syrian opposition called on Wednesday for two-days of demonstrations across the country to mark the 30th anniversary of the 1982 Hama massacre, which claimed thousands of lives.
{..}

“We call for demonstrations in all of Syria on 2 and 3 February on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the Hama massacre,” said the opposition Syrian National Council and other groups in a joint statement.

US, Russia clash over Washington’s war drive against Syria – 2 February 2012

The United States, France, Britain and the Arab League are pressing for the United Nations Security Council to adopt a resolution on Syria, while denying that the resolution is intended to pave the way for regime change and Western military intervention in Syria.

This is a lie. While the imperialist powers and their proxies are helping arm “rebel” forces that are fighting a deepening civil war in Syria, they are simultaneously trying to intimidate Russia and China, who oppose intervention, by casting them as responsible for the deepening bloodshed in Syria.

The resolution explicitly demands regime change, urging Assad to step down in favour of his deputy and prepare the way for multi-party elections.

Debate over the Arab League resolution has stalled, with Russia, a permanent member of the Security Council, expected to veto it. Last night, diplomats at the UN leaving negotiations for the night said that “key differences” remained between the different countries.

In a propaganda offensive, one leading political figure after another has mixed demands for regime change with reassurances that no Libya-style operation to achieve this is under consideration.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton stated that Assad’s “reign of terror” would end, but claimed there was no intention “to pursue any kind of military intervention.”

UK Foreign Secretary William Hague, declared, “The resolution does not call for military action and could not be used to authorise it,” but then warned that, “measures will be considered by this council if there is not an immediate end to the violence.”

Moscow has rejected these assurances. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov pointedly refused to attend the meeting. Clinton’s spokeswoman said he was unavailable when she called him to discuss the situation.

Lavrov warned that the resolution could lead to “another Libya”. If the opposition “refuses to sit at a negotiation table with the regime,” he asked, “what is the alternative? To bomb the regime? I’ve seen that before. I guarantee the Security Council will never approve this.”

Russia’s ambassador to the UN, Vitaly Churkin, declared, “The international community should not be meddling in economic sanctions or through the use of military force.”

The Chinese Ambassador to the UN, Li Baodong, stated his opposition to “pushing for forced regime change in Syria, as it violates the United Nations Charter and the basic norms guiding the practice of international relations.”

The draft is presented as a proposal for a peaceful transfer of power, stating that the security council is “reaffirming its strong commitment to the sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity of Syria, emphasising the need to resolve the current crisis in Syria peacefully, and stressing that nothing in this resolution compels states to resort to the use of force or the threat of force.”

But whereas it does not call for military intervention, neither is it excluded. Rather, it pledges “to review Syria’s implementation of this resolution within 15 days and, in the event that Syria has not complied, to adopt further measures, in consultation with the League of Arab States” [emphasis added].

It was the Arab League which provided the US with a casus belli against Libya when it sanctioned the establishment of a no-fly zone, leading to NATO bombings and military intervention.

That is why, yesterday, Vladimir Chizhov, Russia’s European Union envoy, reiterated the demand for the resolution to include “the most important thing: a clear clause ruling out the possibility that the resolution could be used to justify military intervention in Syrian affairs from outside.”

Behind the scenes, the US has made strenuous efforts to court Russia’s support. The Financial Times reported that, “Syrian opposition leaders have joined western and Arab officials in New York in pressuring Moscow. Burhan Ghalioun, head of the Syrian National Council, the main opposition group, met Russia’s UN ambassador on Monday, reassuring him that Russia’s interests would be preserved in a post-Assad era.”

The Russian government has until now refused US assurances on Syria.

Syria is Russia’s main ally in the region. It has defence and oil contracts with Damascus worth billions and its only Mediterranean base at the port of Tartus. Moreover, both Russia and China understand that efforts to depose Assad are only a way of isolating Washington’s main target, Iran, in an effort to secure undisputed hegemony over the oil riches of the Middle East and Caspian Basin.

This month, Moscow dispatched three warships to Tartus, including its only aircraft carrier. With the US, Britain and France having dispatched six warships to the Straits of Hormuz, led by the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier, after an Iranian threat to close the channel, the danger of a regional war could not be clearer.

Plans for military intervention in Syria are already proceeding.

The US is working with the Gulf States, led by Saudi Arabia and Qatar, and Turkey to destabilize the Assad regime. The Free Syria Army (FSA) and its political backers in the Syrian National Council (SNC) are acting as a front for their military operations. In the run-up to the UN Security Council, the FSA escalated its offensive in neighborhoods of Damascus and the city of Hama.

The US media is openly debating whether the FSA should be armed by the Obama administration. CNN asked, “What kinds of assistance can and should the United States and its allies provide the FSA as part of an overall strategy of helping to achieve President Obama’s goal outlined last August to get Assad to ‘step aside’? Or should Washington subcontract that such support to regional allies…”

“Pushing for a UN resolution on Syria is one of the last steps the international community can take before mulling more seriously the military solution that some Syrian activists are openly advocating,” he states.

He cites “US-based Syrian activist Ammar Abdulhamid”—a representative of the neo-conservative Foundation for the Defense of Democracy—who argues that, “a UN resolution is no longer necessary, and might even be counterproductive… What is needed at this stage is the ability and willingness to provide the necessary materiel and logistical support to the rebels and to provide protest leaders with the training and advice necessary to lead the transitional period themselves.”

There is significant evidence of the US arming the FSA, with reports of unmarked NATO warplanes arriving at Iskenderun, near the Syrian border, delivering Libyan volunteers and weapons, and of US, French and British special-forces, providing training.

Turkey has made clear it backs a military solution. President Abbdullah Gull told Zaman on January 31 that Syria was now on a “path of no return.”

“The end is certain,” he said. If “authoritarian rulers” did not reform, “foreign intervention will be inevitable.”

Turkey is the base of operations for the SNC and the FSA. It is now offering itself as a home to Hamas, reportedly offering funding of up to $300 million. The top leadership of Hamas, a Sunni group originating in the Muslim Brotherhood, has already left Damascus. It has close ties to the Syrian opposition, which is also dominated by the Brotherhood.

egypt: now that it is clear the 500 egyyptian pound gharama wont be applied for who does not go to vote, no one bothers, except the families of the khwan and salafis! zero turnout in cairo last sunday monday for the upper chamber, and most p0eople i asked didnt even know it was actually on that date and were thinking it was next week!

yesterday match in bur said: hooligans against the army (police watching and not moving): 37 dead and 1000 injured;
the day before yesterday in front of the parliament ikhwan against tahrir protesters: 200 injured.

well, if “al islam huwa al haal” is the program of the ikhwan and salafis, i am getting really curious to see what they have to offer for youth frustration..

Majed in regard to your previous post on the conversation with a member of the Alawi community, there is a Haaretz article today about the sect. Here it ishttp://www.haaretz.com/news/middle-east/spotlight-syria-s-alawites-a-secretive-and-persecuted-sect-1.410617
My position is that people are fully entitled to their beliefs and to worship and organize in any way they like.
There is and there was a dictatorship of the mainstream orthodoxy in every religion be it the Catholic church when it declared the Cathars heretics or the Sunnis that declared the Alawis heretics and therefore one can understand the sense of persecution and the fear of the return of this persecution.

Nevertheless the French have actually studied the sect and the sacred texts of the community can be found at the National Library in Paris. The concept of the leader of the community being “God” is not new, for after the independence of Syria there was a declaration by the leader of the Alawi community that he is the “Rab” and he was sentenced to death and executed. I do not recall exactly when or the name of that person. I believe he was called the Murshid or something like that. This was again seared in the memories of the community as another example of the persectution by the Sunni majority. Now I have only conjecture when I say that this may explain the absolute insistence on the post of the presidency being in the hands of the Assad family as some equate him to this role of the “God or Murshid or whatever” as being the leader of the community and his departure may indicate the loss of a very important symbol.

As for the feeling of persecution, the roles in my opinion have been reversed. Even though the Sunni majority is a numerical majority it is perceiving its lot as that of a persecuted and humiliated community with grinding poverty, inability to access education and advancement and with a sense that there is a regime within the state apparatus that is inexorably biased against them.

This is where unfortunately the thinking on the part of the ruling sect gets in the way of a political solution for they can only relate to their memories of persecution and have no reference point to a concept of citizenship above sect and clan. Therefore, in their imagination they will face a return to utter subjugation and persecution. The most unforturnate part of this thinking is that it is dead ender with zero sum game. This continued repression and bloodshed and dehumanization of the Sunnis is going to bring about more violence and there is no way in this day and age for the 12% to control the 75%. (before some go balistic about this I would add that this applies to the Gulf countries as well).

On top of this problem is the fact that all of the communities in Syria are being trampled by regional rivalries and political expediencies be it from Russia or from Turkey or Iran.

Once the regime falls, it will be due mainly to the tenacity of the people and their desire for genuine change.

Foreign politicians and diplomats are asking themselves why Russia agreed not to block the Libya resolution last year, but now is ready to go head-to-head with the West in defense of Bashar al-Assad. But experts reached in Russia gave Kommersant at least six concrete reasons why Russia is not likely to give in.

1. Syria is one of Russia’s most important allies in the Arab world. If Moscow abandons Damascus in this critical moment, then the message it will be sending to allies around the world is that one cannot rely on the Kremlin.

2. Damascus is one of Moscow’s most important trading partners, particularly in military technology. The military contracts that were signed in the past years were worth about $4 billion. In 2010 alone, Syria acquired about $700 million worth of Russian arms. Moscow recently approved the sale of 36 military planes to Damascus – for a sum of $550 million. The total Russian investment in the Syrian economy is around $20 million. One of the largest projects is a gas processing plant managed by a Russian company. Moscow is not convinced that the opposition in Syria would continue this partnership if it comes into power.

3. Russia’s only military base located outside of the former Soviet Union is in the Syrian port city of Tartus. The opposition in Syria has given no indication of whether or not they would allow Moscow to keep the base if they are successful in overthrowing Assad.

4. Russia is wary of the uncompromising Syrian opposition. Its leaders are oriented towards the Persian Gulf monarchs, towards Turkey and towards the West, but not in the least towards Moscow. In addition, among Bashar al Assad’s opponents, Islamists have a relatively strong position, particularly the Muslim Brotherhood. If they come to power in Syria, which is home to a relatively large number of Christians and Shiites, there is a real risk that the country will be splintered based on religion.

5. The Russian leadership clearly doesn’t believe the West’s promises that the resolution on Syria is not a steps towards a military intervention. Moscow thinks that the U.S. and European Union are being sly, and Moscow has not forgotten the Libyan precedent: NATO bombing of Muammar Gaddafi’s forces began just days after the UN Libya resolution was adopted in March.

6. As important as international relations are, Russian internal politics also plays a major role in this affair. A month before the presidential elections, Vladimir Putin does not want to appear weak to either voters or his opponents, either by giving in to the West’s demands or by betraying a traditional ally. Russians are still distressed about Moscow’s abstention from the vote on the Libya resolution, which facilitated Gaddafi’s overthrown. And the Kremlin truly does not want Assad to follow in Gaddafi’s footsteps… at least not before the elections on March 4.

UNITED NATIONS, February 2 — The new Syria draft of the UN Security Council, as obtained by Inner City Press and put online here, omits Paragraph 7(b) about “delegation by the President of Syria of his full authority to his Deputy.”

There are other changes, visible on the text we are putting online, in HTML as a courtesy after push-back about previously publishing track changes.

It can be analyzed later this morning: the Security Council meeting to discuss the draft has been moved from 10 am to 3 pm on Thursday (ironically, elsewhere in Manhattan at the Ritz Carlton there is a protest against Yemen’s Ali Saleh.)

French Ambassador Gerard Araud on his way into the Council at 10 am spoke of putting the text “in blue” on Thursday night, hoping for a vote on Friday.

The reference to transfer of power has been dropped; some are sure to insist that it is still in as “subtext.”

Feb. 2 (Bloomberg) — Arab and European negotiators at the United Nations seeking a draft resolution backing Arab League calls for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to step aside have removed specific references that spell out a power transfer.

The new draft, obtained by Bloomberg News, “fully supports” the Arab League’s decision to “facilitate a political transition” yet removes language about “formation of a national unity government” and “delegation by the President of Syria of his full authority to his Deputy.”

Those changes may go some way to mollifying Russia, which had said the previous draft was an endorsement of regime change.

Legitimacy of Assad’s regime should not be determined by others: Russian official
English.news.cn 2012-02-02 23:41:48.

MOSCOW, Feb. 2 (Xinhua) — A senior Russian official has rejected the idea other countries should determine the legitimacy of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime.

Deputy Chairman of the State Duma’s Foreign Affairs Committee Konstantin Kosachev was commenting Thursday on a draft U.N. Security Council resolution on Syria being promoted by several Arab and Western countries.

“Russia objects to the Western draft resolution, which urges other people to decide on the legitimacy of the regime in Syria,” Kosachev told the Ekho Moskvy radio station in an interview.

After the conflict in Libya, Russia’s confidence in Western partners had “radically reduced”, Kosachev said.

Moscow had proposed talks between all Syrian parties, he said, adding the opposition refused the proposal, saying Assad’s regime was illegitimate and any talks with it were “senseless.”

Kosachev said Western countries’ words in the draft resolution on Syria were similar to their previous resolution on Libya, whose vague text was used by NATO-led forces to overthrow the North African nation’s government.

Security Council members have debated the Syrian draft resolution, with the Russian representative to the U.N. saying last week he was “deeply disappointed” with it.

Russia’s foreign ministry said in a statement that Moscow would not back the draft.

Syria’s fractured opposition, a long way from victory
A look at some of the factions and coalitions opposing the al-Assad regime
By Kazi Stastna, CBC News
Posted: Feb 1, 2012 4:34 PM EThttp://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2012/01/31/f-syria-opposition.html
…
“Syria has always been a fractured nation with a very weak sense of national political community,” said Landis. “And that’s the reason why a family like the al-Assad family has been able to rule for 40 years, because they are pros at divide and rule, and they have been extremely cautious in grooming personal loyalties as opposed to national loyalties.”

Broadly, the main opposition forces break down into four groupings but even within these there are many factions and interests.
….
Syrian National Council (SNC)

This is the largest and most internationally visible opposition group.
The members of the council are clearly divided among themselves as they have had to limit the council chairman’s term to three months because they haven’t been able to agree on who the chairman should be.
…
They are in favour of removing al-Assad from power and against negotiating with the regime but agree on little else.

They have also been vague on whether they would support a foreign military intervention, with some factions saying they would accept Arab forces but not Western troops, and others voicing support for actions short of intervention such as a no-fly zone.

The SNC has no coherent economic plan or vision of Syria’s future, and the internal bickering within the council and lack of a strong, unifying leader threatens to render the council impotent.

National Coordination Body for Democratic Change (NCB)

A more moderate opposition coalition than the SNC, the National Coordination Body for Democratic Change is made up of secularists within Syria who favour a peaceful transition of power without any military intervention and who are willing to negotiate with the al-Assad regime.
The group is led by Hassan Abdul Azim, a moderate dissident in his 80s who has been a prominent member of Syria’s socialist movement since the 1960s.

Some see him as too meek while others consider him the opposition’s best chance of starting a dialogue with the regime.

Unlike the exiled leaders of the SNC, he has experience on the front lines of the current uprising, having been briefly arrested by security forces in April 2011.

The NCB’s main spokesperson outside Syria is Haytham Manna, a writer and human rights activist.
..
The dissenting SNC members opposed any co-operation with what they saw as the too moderate NCB, some of whose members they considered to be agents of the current regime.
…Local coordination committees

These are small grassroots groups organized on a local level within Syria that are leading the demonstrations that have been fuelling the uprising since March 2011. They often include young activists in their 20s and 30s and rely on small, tight networks of family and friends that have less chance of being infiltrated by regime spies.

Both the NCB and the SNC profess to be communicating and co-ordinating with these committees, but it is hard to verify the extent of this co-operation as identifying committee members would put them in jeopardy and getting accurate reports from within Syria has been difficult.
..Free Syrian Army

More a loose affiliation than a coordinated fighting force, the Free Syrian Army is made up of defectors from the Syrian military and opponents of the regime who have picked up arms.
..
The number of Free Syrian Army fighters is unknown, but al-Asaad told the Reuters news agency in Ocotber 2011 that 15,000 soldiers had defected from the Syrian military.
…

Popular support?

More cautious observers have warned that, inside Syria, support for the anti-regime demonstrations is much less widespread than international media would have the public believe.

Between the hard-core al-Assad loyalists and the young activists leading the anti-regime protests is a mushy middle made up largely of middle-class Sunni Syrians who have already witnessed street muggings and attacks against their neighbours, and are apprehensive of a volatile situation spiralling out of control.

“They understand the Syrian realities better than the young people, and they’re very cynical, and they see that Syria can become Iraq,” said Landis.

“When Bashar says, ‘It’s either me or the deluge; it’s either me or civil war,’ they understand that.”

15:35 GMT, February 2, 2012 The Head of Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Military Intelligence, Maj. Gen. Aviv Kochavi, spoke at the 12th Annual Herzliya Conference on Thursday (February 2) discussing the components of regional turmoil and their effect on Israeli security.

Maj. Gen. Kochavi elaborated on the explanations and reasons standing behind the regional turmoil in the Middle East and explained that the prevalent trend is a strengthening in the voice of the Arabic public. “This public that has not been able to express its aspirations for decades, discovered its capability and its voice since it began translating it into political power. This summarizes the revolution in the Middle East. This may develop in many different ways,” he said.
.
.
.

If the resolution removes the clause asking Bashar al Assad to step down, then it is very close to the resolution the Russians proposed 3 months ago and the plan of the Syrian government ( national unity government, elections etc.).
The SNC will be bound to enter in a dialog supervised by the vice president, as Bashar offered months ago. The Local opposition will probably jump on the UNSC-AL wagon and accept the resolution.
If the SNC refuses to join the dialog they will bear all the blame and be discarded. The Turks will have to pressure them to accept. A light…..

The Egypt created after the fall of President Hosni Mubarak, almost one year ago, while allegedly founded on democratic principles, seems to be denying its citizens the most basic of human rights demanded by last year’s country-wide protests.

UNITED NATIONS, February 2 — Minutes after Inner City Press published the UN Security Council’s new Syria draft, which omits Paragraph 7(b) about “delegation by the President of Syria of his full authority to his Deputy,” French Ambassador Gerard Araud came out of the Council.

Inner City Press asked Araud, if you agreed to take out delegation of power by Assad, how can you claim it is still in the draft?

Araud said, “We didn’t drop the transfer of power.”

But Paragraph 7b is gone, Inner City Press pointed out.

“But 7a also, and 7c also,” Araud said. “We are supporting the plan, and in the plan you have the transfer of power.”

Another Western diplomat on the Council argued to Inner City Press that Arab League Secretary General Nabil Elaraby talked about a delegation by Assad to his deputy, implying it would be temporary.

A non-Western, BRICS diplomat scoffed to Inner City Press that “only one or two members of the Council will claim that the delegation of power is called for by this resolution — it is not.”

So it seems that around a single text, there are ALREADY divergent interpretations. The BRICS diplomat continue, “This time Russia will hold them to it.

JERUSALEM, Feb. 2 (Xinhua) — Israel’s foes have “more rockets than ever before” aimed at targets across the Jewish state, according to the head of Israeli army’s Intelligence Directorate.

“Our enemies have 200,000 rockets and missiles capable of hitting every part of Israel,” Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Director of Military Intelligence Maj.-Gen. Aviv Kochavi said in an address on Thursday at the annual Herzliya Conference.

In a timely illustration of his words, Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip fired eight rockets into southern Israel overnight Wednesday, in the most severe incident of its kind since October.

The projectiles exploded in open fields in the Sha’ar Hanegev Regional Council, the military said. No injuries or damages were reported. The army did not launch reprisal attacks in response to the salvo.

On Israel’s northern border, the Yisrael Hayom daily said Wednesday that military officials were worried that Syria might transfer its stock of weapons, including sarin and VX nerve agent chemical warheads on long-range Scud missiles, to Lebanon-based Hezbollah.

“We are seeing a paradoxical process unfold, in which Syria is undergoing a process of ‘Lebanonization’ and vice versa,” a senior Israeli defense official told the newspaper.

“Syria, which was an island of stability in the past, is now being torn apart by military clashes. Lebanon is now perceived as being the more stable of the two,” the official added.

In a wide-ranging speech which canvased the last two years of seismic political changes across the Middle East, Kochavi warned that Israel was facing “a more hostile, more Islamic, more sensitive Middle East, one more attuned to public sentiment, less controlled by the regimes, and less susceptible to international influence.”

Referring to the IDF intelligence reports on Iran’s alleged clandestine nuclear weaponry program, Kochavi said that Teheran was in possession of 4 tons of low-grade uranium enriched to 3.5 percent and another 100 kilograms enriched to 20 percent, according to Haaretz.

Speaking a day earlier at the multi-day event, Israeli President Shimon Peres termed Iran’s leadership as “evil,” and said it was “the duty of the international community to prevent evil and nuclear (weapons) from coming together. That is the obligations of most of the leaders of the free world, one which they must meet.”

On Wednesday, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon told Peres that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) investigators looking for evidence of Iran’s clandestine nuclear weapons program in recent days had held “good” talks with Iranian officials.

“I have been urging the Iranian authorities to prove that their nuclear program is genuinely for peaceful purposes. I think they have not yet convinced the international community,” Ban said.

He added, however, that there is “no alternative to a dialogue with Iran,” Ynet news noted.

“There is still a lot of work to be done and so we have planned another trip in the very near future,” said Herman Nackaerts, IAEA ‘s deputy director general and head of the department of safeguards, after concluding his visit to Iran.

Kochavi noted that if the uranium was enriched “to a 90-percent level, that would be enough for four atomic bombs.” Iran, in his words, wanted “to create hegemony in the region (and) deterrence, and to become an international player.”

UNITED NATIONS, February 2 — Forty minutes after Inner City Press published the UN Security Council’s new Syria draft, which omits Paragraph 7(b) about “delegation by the President of Syria of his full authority to his Deputy,” Chinese ambassador Li Baodong told Inner City Press that this does not go far enough.

Inner City Press asked Li Baodong about his French counterpart Gerard Araud’s claims that “we didn’t drop the transfer of power… We are supporting the [Arab League] plan, and in the plan you have the transfer of power.”

Li Baodong told Inner City Press, “They agreed to take out, 7a, b, c.” But, Li Baodong continued, in the “current wording, there is a serious problem that we cannot accept. We may consider using wording like ‘taking the initiative of the Arab into consideration… the Security Council supports the efforts of Arab League,’ rather than fully support.”

Inner City Press asked Li Baodong about earlier statements of a BRICS diplomat that “only one or two members of the Council will claim that the delegation of power is called for by this resolution — it is not… This time Russia will hold them to it.”

(Speaking to gaggle of correspondents as he left the Council at the same time as US Ambassador Susan Rice, Russia’s Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said it is heavy going, but we are working very hard.)

Speaking exclusively to Inner City Press, Li Baodong smiled and said, “I talked to some other ambassadors, still they have problems, I don’t thing they can easy get that. You can expect there will be very heated consultations.” Watch this site.

The important part of the resolution in the UN,are
Immidiate halt to the brutal oppression,and release of political prisoners,and allow the demonstrations freely., and follow up in two weeks, Russia must guarantee such things in two weeks,they will give a period of two weeks to convince Russia to accept te removal of Assad

Is a SC resolution supporting the AL’s initiative minus the call on Besho to hand over power to his VP better for the revolution than vetoed SC resolution supporting the Arab initiative in its entirety?

I am not sure. I am concerned about the revolutionists morales and there ability to continue revolting when the light is far.

“Journalism standards of the New York Times
“There is no way to corroborate much of Mr. Omar’s account of his journey to becoming an enforcer for the Assad government.” But what the hell: we will supply our readers with a whole article over two pages based on his account. Who is counting here, damn it.

PS Do you think that the New York Times would lionize an Israeli occupation soldiers who defects or he refuses orders, and would publish his account of massacres without having verification for every little detail from 3794430 sources?
Posted by As’ad AbuKhalil”

VERY WELL DESERVED!
“With shoeshttp://youtu.be/626TCgGISrU
The families of Palestinian prisoners in Gaza met Ban Ki-Moon with old shoes. I need footage, please.
Posted by As’ad AbuKhalil

“Crude and vulgar sectarianism in Ash-Sharq Al-Awsat
Look at the headline and this article by Tariq Al-Humayyid (a long-time propagandist for the sons of Prince Salman and the editor of his mouthpiece, Ash-Sharq Al-Awsat). They don’t even try to disguise their sectarian hatred while pretending (in English) that they are “liberals”. Liberals in the House of Saud camp? This Humayyid once described liberal reformers in Saudi Arabia as “an Iranian lobby inside Saudi Arabia”.
Posted by As’ad AbuKhalil”

Irritated,
“The SNC will be bound to enter in a dialog supervised by the vice president, as Bashar offered months ago. The Local opposition will probably jump on the UNSC-AL wagon and accept the resolution.”

They are already ‘IN’, however, I doubt that they have any power to stop any of the terrorists violence, unlike the regime that can do that.

47. jad said:
Irritated,
“The SNC will be bound to enter in a dialog supervised by the vice president, as Bashar offered months ago. The Local opposition will probably jump on the UNSC-AL wagon and accept the resolution.”

Delusion,
Neither the SNC ,the real opposition, nor the NCB the fake opposition will agree for dialogue until Assad is removed.

Tara
This is truely the most evil thing to do, to ride him out of the country and now use his words to fully humiliate him. Do you know how his daughter has reacted to that?
The other day i asked an friend if there is any syrian writer of worldclass still living in Syria, he said all are out of the country.

As Rafik Schami said: “I could not have written what i wrote in Syria, i had to liberate my tongue.”

NCB is wise, pragmatic, politically mature, have morals, visions and standards unlike the SNC which is living in lalaland. I’m glad to see SNC is forced to face reality.
I think that this step, if taken, will save Syria and Syrians.

People need to decide what they want immediately,what they want next and then what they want long term. A cessation of violence is by far the most pressing need in Syria,this cessation can allow the political track to move forward. I am not sure that the fighting parties are ready to talk yet but I doubt that politicians on both sides have much control on armed groups that are transferring Syria into a Syriastan,the problem is much bigger than what a lot of people are willing to admit,security and feeding the hungry will be the two biggest challenges for any future government.

Ash-Sharq Al-Awsat is a caricature of the Saudi Arabia views of the events of the world through the prism of wahhabism.
It is interesting to watch how they express them, trying to sound smart and moderate. It is a lot of fun to read their articles, especially Tariq Al Hummayid’s , he is the best.

Ghufran
I agree,stop the violence now, we will not talk,or have dialogue, till violence stop, allow free peaceful demonstrations, Russia must guarantee that, may be they will agree to send UN people to monitor the halt on oppression.
I dont expect the UN to be more incompetent than AL.
Al Dabi held press conference without permission by the AL chief Al Arabi, I expect him to be ousted soon.

Arab media is full of political prostitutes,Tariq is a great example,the last time I opened that piece of garbage,alsharq alawsat,was more than 6 months ago.
Alarabiya and aljazeera are not much better today ,and the regime mouth pieces have proven again that we all can become stupid and empty when we sell our conscience to the highest bidder.
Talking about stupid and empty,read how more than 70 Egyptians got killed and how security forces were too afraid to intervene,this scene will be the norm in many Arab countries if revolutionists fail to distinguish between changing a regime and destroying a country:

Police conscripts then stood by as rival fans attacked each other with rocks and chairs. “The police did nothing to stop it,” Amr Khamis, an Ahly supporter told CNN at the train station in Cairo after returning from the match.
“Officers refused to open the gates of the stadium so we could not escape and had to face thousands of Al Masry hooligans attacking with rocks, knives, swords and anything else you can imagine.”

Jurgen
German national media culture is too advanced and very well structured and ruled by a set of excellent rules, if Alsharq Alawsat to be translated there to become a ‘German’ newspaper it will be banned for life.
We both know how proper the culture of debating is in Germany so I doubt that any German will think of what Alhamidy writes as funny or interesting. What they write is DISGRACE, SECTARIAN, SEXIST and simply DISGUSTING.

I hope that sane people in the regime and the opposition move beyond Bashar’s issue and stop trying to discount the other side. If people have not discovered yet that Syria is divided and fractured,then we will not be able to end this tragedy.
The regime must sacrify Bashar and his family without vengeance and humiliation ,they stayed in power for more than 40 years,and it is time for new blood,and the opposition needs to understand that regime supporters and those “fence sitters” are humans and they are as Syrian as the opposition crowd,this means that a new regime must give all Syrians a voice under the rule of the law.Syrians need outside help not outside weapons,Qatar for example can easily fund any US mission instead of paying thugs and drummers who are only complicating an already flammable situation.

The group of 35 pilgrims were on a bus outside the central city of Hama when armed men ambushed it, said the diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to give details on the abduction.

The gunmen took away 11 men, leaving behind the women, children and elderly men, after stealing money and mobile phones from them, the diplomat said. The pilgrims had been heading to visit Shiite shrines in Syria, he said.

Iran’s state-run Press TV also reported the abduction of the 11, but did not provide details.

It was the latest in a string of reported kidnappings of Iranians amid Syria’s turmoil, as the regime cracks down on protesters and military defectors. Iran is Syria’s closest ally and has strongly backed President Bashar Assad.

Last Friday, gunmen snatched 11 Iranian pilgrims along the same highway, according to Iran’s state news agency IRNA. In December seven Iranian engineers building a power plant in central Syria were kidnapped. They have not yet been released.

Ramstein Air Base, which already houses the European headquarters of the U.S. Air Force and a NATO installation, will host the centre, which NATO says aims to protect Europe from potential attacks by so-called “rogue states” like Iran.

Do I think Bashar will stop the oppression and allow peaceful demonstrations? No,NO, NO,
We have to embarras Russia.
The saying in Syria Follow the liar to the door, Bashar your idole is a liar, just like he lied to AL, he will lie again and again, then Russia will find it hard to support him any longer.

A first rate comment and insight. It’s what I come to SyriaComment for.

It deserves wider circulation.

(Note: When I send comments like Obsever’s to friends and family I have to copy and paste the comment into an email. Because if I send them the link to SyriaComment people go crazy and give up trying to scroll through all the junk cut and paste from Ann and others. So their cutting and pasting creates the need for more cutting and pasting!)

I read post # 26 to see if it was worthy for copying,pasting and the emailing to friends and I can state with certainty that it is not,however,any insight and analysis that skips the usual hateful propaganda is good for people to read.
Few notes: almurshed who came from alghaab ,and still has followers and people who now protect and surround his sons, was an alawi who started a cult on his own which is not now,and never was,part of the alawite sect. Alawis do not consider almurshidiyeen alawites,they are seen as a heretic sect,the same way many Sunnis look at alawites.
As for Sunnis being victims of oppression and corruption,one has to see how alawites did compared to their Sunni counterparts if we are to have an objective view on the subject.
The regime made it possible for impoverished syrians,especially alawites,to have a job and a salary by joining the army and security forces,many of them became a part of the corrupt system that was crafted by 48 years of albaath and alassad rule,this corrupt system attracted a large number of
Sunni merchants and businessmen who could not care less about who is in power as long as the dirty profits kept coming,I fault the regime for allowing and organizing corruption but I know that most fat cats,a lot of them are not alawis,were willful participants. The same fat cats who are supporting the regime will make a u-turn and support any new regime as long as their benefits are not compromised.
يللي بياخد أمي بناديه يا عمي
Finally,the rule of majority sect is never a guarantee of a just and effective system,syrians must be given the choice to elect whoever they find qualified to lead,this is why syrians should reject limiting the office of presidency to Muslims,that is a wish that will probably not come true in Syria or any other Arab country:
يا أمة ضحكت من جهلها الامم

Tara,
Being half Sunni,half Palestinian,an expat with a PhD makes my testimony somewhat biased. In my opinion,most alawis and Christians are either supportive of the regime or not ready to support the SNC,however,a growing number of alawis are becoming comfortable with the NCB and Manna’ and many are also willing to see an end to alassad rule but not an end to the regime as a whole. The SNC failed to win the fence sitters because they want a radical regime change and they support violence against the army,remember that the party of fence sitters is not limited to minorities.
Assad needs to go but the minorities are not willing to accept a second class status just because two thirds of Syria is Sunnis,seculars,many businessmen and a long list of doubters share the same sentiment,people who still believe that the SNC and the FSA represent 80% of syrians are only kidding themselves.

Ghufran
Before you said you are half Alawi,and half Palastinian.now you are saying you are half Sunni and half Palastinian, can you please make up your mind.
Second your opinion is worthless,as your statistics are wrong

“The regime made it possible for impoverished syrians,especially alawites,to have a job and a salary by joining the army”

But spending Syria’s scarce resources on military forces instead of putting it into education, infrastructure and development of its bureaucracy and legal system is WHY so many Syrians are poor and without hope, corruption rages and the economy is stunted and distorted.

There are studies out there clearly correlating the size of a country’s army and defence spending per capita with crushing political and economic underdevelopment.

And who is the main enemy that the Assads always need such a military for? As we now see: the Syrian people.

(I stand by #26 for fresh insights instead of emotion-driven opinion. Incidentally, Ghufran, I have cut, pasted and circulated a few of your comments too).

No doubt about that, the only authentic group is the SNC, this is why it has been recognized by Libya only and got vague promises by Saudi Arabia. Qatar their sugar daddy has yet to offer them an office in Doha with the Talibans and Hamas.
These Syrian minorities are really becoming more annoying! Without them all would be so simple!
It sounds like the Turkish narrative in 1915 and closer to us, the Serbian narrative and the German narrative in 1939.

May I call that thoughts hallucinations? I mean as opposed to auditory or visual hallucinations. One sees things that do not exist when having visual hallucinations and hears voices that only exist in his/ her brain with auditory hallucinations.

I haven’t heard the term thought hallucinations before but I guess we can coin the term on SC.

He supports the Arab League plan and has called on Assad to resign. Or in menhebak speak, he wants to destroy Syria and trap women in burkas.

On another note, I condemn the characterization of almurshidiyeen as a heretical cult of the Alawite faith. It doesn’t matter what the Alawites think, if the murshidiyeen believe they are Alawite then it is so. It’s discrimination to dismiss people based on their religion and is a blatant affront to their rights as minorities.

The only way to overcome this sectarian imbalance is to give the murshidiyeen 40 to 50 years to rule the country.

‘Mein Kampf’ is forbidden in Germany.
I wonder why. Germans claim that Germany is a democracy with full respect for minorities.

In any case it is available everywhere else and in Turkey, it’s became a best seller in 2005.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mein_Kampf
“In Turkey, it was widely available and growing in popularity, even to the point where it became a bestseller, selling up to 100,000 copies in just two months in 2005. Analysts and commentators believe the popularity of the book to be related to a rise in nationalism, anti-US and antisemitic sentiment “because of what is happening in the Middle East, the Israeli-Palestinian problem and the war in Iraq”.[23] Dogu Ergil, a political scientist at Ankara University, said both left-wingers, the far-right and Islamists, had found common ground—”not on a common agenda for the future, but on their anxieties, fears and hate”.[24]”

Majedkhaldoun,
My mom is a Palestinian and she is Sunni , my dad is an alawi, I hope this helps you “get it”.
I have little to say about your posts, I subscribe to higher standards,you are free to speak and we are free to like or dislike what you say, the same is true for me.

Ultra Violence
How Egypt’s soccer mobs are threatening the revolution.
BY JAMES M. DORSEY | FEBRUARY 1, 2012http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/02/01/ultra_violence?page=0,1
….
The conspiracy theorists may be on to something: The riots in Port Said will likely strengthen the hand of those in the ruling military council who want to crack down hard on the ultras, who have formed the backbone of street protests that have not quieted down even though Egypt has seated an elected parliament and will soon choose a new president. And this time, it seems, the Egyptian people will be with them.

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Judith Miller tells Newsmax that the radical Muslim Brotherhood inevitably will come to power in Egypt and other Arab states — resulting in a “very grim” future for Christians and other minorities.

The national security expert also warns that Egypt could face a total economic meltdown and says the option of a military strike on Iran is being weighed against the ultimate goal of a regime change in the Islamic republic.

Miller, who left The New York Times Washington bureau in 2005, now is an adjunct fellow at the Manhattan Institute and a Newsmax contributor.

She recently wrote in Newsmax about a culture of corruption and repression against reformers in Egypt. In an exclusive interview with Newsmax.TV, she was asked why other media outlets are not covering that situation more.

“I think there is a reluctance to turn our backs on the revolutions that took place throughout the Arab world during the Arab spring uprisings,” she says.

“There is a reluctance to acknowledge what is happening, which is that these revolutionary movements that were spearheaded largely by secular, liberal young people have been taken over by Islamist forces, and there is an unwillingness to come to grips with the direction in which these revolutionary movements are moving.

“The United States now faces a region that is going to be increasingly Islamic, increasingly intolerant to minorities, particularly Christians, and to alternative secular points of view.”

As to how much of an influence the Muslim Brotherhood is having on this intolerance, Miller says: “It’s a large factor.

“I think overall the prospects for Christians and other minorities are looking very grim if they come to power. And they seem poised inevitably to come to power, at least in Egypt but also other Sunni Arab states that have had these uprisings.”

Miller discusses the possibility of an economic meltdown in Egypt.

“That is where you face the most chaotic and potentially dangerous situation,” she says.

“If the Egyptian economy fails, and it’s rapidly on route to failing — they are almost out of hard currency — you could actually have riots and chaos in the streets. You could have a turning by the Muslims on their Christian brethren in the hunt for scapegoats. And that is what the Christian community fears the most.”

Miller was asked whether politics and President Barack Obama’s re-election concerns are influencing his policies regarding the ongoing turmoil in Syria.

“I think the Obama administration is very concerned about the spillover effect of chaos in the region on their election prospects,” she responds.

“What they’re particularly concerned about is a rise in the price of oil. That would dampen the burgeoning economic growth here, which could be completely offset should we see a sharp rise in the price of oil.

“Therefore, the administration is doing what it can to put a damper on things. It has been unwilling to do more than it has done about the chaos and the killing by the government in Syria because it is so concerned about the alternative, which is the collapse of Assad regime in Syria, the coming to power of militant jihadists, what their attitude might be toward the United States, what Iran might do in response to that.

“But surely any more instability in the Middle East will translate into higher oil prices for America, so of course they are concerned about that possibility.”

Miller says Russia is not cooperating with the United States and its allies regarding strong sanctions against Iran, partly because of Russia’s weapons sales to Iran. “But there’s no doubt that a covert war is being waged against the Iranian regime that involves the killing of scientists, the blowing up of institutions, the sabotaging of enrichment capability through computer viruses,” she adds.

UNITED NATIONS, February 2 — As the UN Security Council battles on Syria whether to “fully support” or merely “take into consideration” the Arab League plan, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is setting up a UN system Task Force on Syria, meeting today, Inner City Press has learned.

But, of concern to democracy advocates, Ban has selected as the chair of his Syria task force a person who served as a minister and ambassador for Ali Saleh, Yemen’s dictator: Amat Al Alim Alsoswa.

What is Ban saying, these whistleblowing critics asked Inner City Press, by put in charge of the UN’s response to Syria a person who served another dictatorship and, they say, has even now been lobbying for the UN to not be involved in or monitor the promised democratization in Yemen?

Serving as Amat Al Alim Alsoswa’s deputy, the sources say, will be Oscar Fernandez Tarranco, now with the UN Department of Political Affairs but previously working with Amat Al Alim Alsoswa at the UN Development Program.

On the same day, Yemenis and others scheduled a protest against Saleh’s immunity in front of the Ritz Carlton

UN Security Council ambassadors are considering a revised resolution aimed at stopping the bloodshed in Syria that removes an explicit reference to President Bashar al-Assad stepping aside.

The latest draft, obtained by The Associated Press, still “fully supports” the Arab League’s Jan. 22 decision to “facilitate a political transition leading to a democratic, plural political system.”

The league’s peace plan calls for Assad to delegate his authority to his deputy.

But in an apparent effort to overcome Russian objections, the new version of the UN resolution no longer includes the explicit reference to Assad delegating his powers. It also removes the explicit call for a new national unity government and for transparent, free elections — also important parts of the Arab peace plan.

The revised draft also deletes a paragraph calling on UN member states to take steps to prevent the flow of arms into Syria. Russia is a major arms supplier to Syria, a key regional ally since Soviet times.

Council ambassadors were to discuss the latest version behind closed doors Thursday afternoon, and issued no statements about the new draft before the gathering.
Courting Russian support

It was unclear if the change would be enough to get Russian support for the resolution.
….

(Edited for personal attack. This is a warning that you will be banned for one week if you persist. Please consult the Syria Comment Rules)
——————————————

How could those who left Syria call on those inside to embrace death?
Syrians who chose to escape danger have no right to dictate action to the people they left behind

Never has Damascus been so gloomy. A quiet sadness hovers over the streets and alleys. The voices of people are strangulated, broken and oppressed. The sound of a guilty conscience rings in their remorseful voices.

The sound of death drowns out all other noise, creating a miserable, hushed rhythm. The faces are sombre. Even fights over gas cylinders are noiseless, with people clashing with their hands and eyes. They scramble to get hold of a blue gas cylinder but remain silent as they battle for it.

Only a few cars drive through Omawiyeen Square, which seems deserted like never before. A large screen set up in the square to broadcast programmes from the official Syrian satellite channel also seems forsaken, incongruous with the context of time and place, like an ancient relic placed in a museum for modern art.

Passersby no longer pay attention to the screen, perhaps altogether oblivious to its existence. They walk past it without glancing at it. The lights of the houses and restaurants on Kassioun Mountain flicker faintly behind a curtain of darkness.

I feel a lump in my throat as the residents of the city leave and head to Paris, Dubai, Istanbul, Amman or Beirut. Their departure saddens me. Does any city other than Damascus deserve to have them?

Some have given up too early, deserting the city only a few months into the revolution. But they didn’t just pack and leave. They write and talk as though they were still in the city. The people of Damascus die, while expats write about their death from afar. Those in Damascus get arrested, only to have their detention narrated by those escapees in the comfort of their retreats, where the air smells sweet, the people feel relaxed, and the streets are clean and bustling with life.

They call on the people to pour to the streets, to chant, rebel and strike, without feeling the slightest twinge of guilt, or considering how incredibly selfish their calls are.

How could those outside Syria call on the people inside to hit the streets, to embrace death, detention, abduction and revenge?

Some of them appear on satellite channels, well-groomed, profusely perfumed and hair neatly combed to theorise about politics, while others line up in the bitter cold to chant the fall of the regime at the risk of receiving a death shot at any minute.

Some of those who fled the danger will call for the imposition of a no-fly zone over Syria, others for foreign intervention or a hunger strike. But who gave them the right to demand such grave measures, having willingly left the country?

They have the right to escape danger for a while, but having done so, they should no longer ask the brave people who remained to seek death.

Only those angels who refused to abandon the country and chose to stay have the right to decide their destiny. Those who have fled the danger issue arrogant calls for those inside to protest and revolt, in exchange for promises to tell their brave stories and to keep their memory.

“Miller, who “was kicked out” of The New York Times Washington bureau in 2005″

The infamous Judith Miller is the NYT responsible for all the lies about Iraq nuclear program.
Miller was later involved in disclosing Valerie Plame’s identity as CIA personnel. She spent three months in jail for claiming reporter’s privilege and refusing to reveal her sources in the CIA leak.

Mein Kampf is forbidden because the heritage of Adolf Hitler came to the state of Bavaria ( his residency was there) They have the copyright and will not accept the publication. The books copyright though will end by 2014, lets see if a bill will be written to protect us further from this book of hate. Anyhow i am daccord that no book should be on an index or banned, but this book was not read when it should have been read ( 1925) and layouted the holocaust and all other sick racist views of the Nazis. By the way forbidden are all signs of the Nazi movement also the swastika, noone can wear it, you see what too much nationalism will do to one country?

I know “The Dark Side Of Love” and I and many of my native english friends found it very difficult to read in its english translation. I think it’s about a mythical Syria that appeals more to westerners than to contemporary Arabs.
That may explain why I don’t think any of his works in German has been translated to Arabic. He is hardly known in the Arab world.

Russia argues that it is not up to the UN to tell a sitting president that he must resign,I think he must exit Syrian politics but not under Qatar or NATO pressure,however,the UN has,and should, taken punitive measures against brutal governments in the past.
The problem with the UN and western government in general in a nutshell is Israel and applying different standards to different countries based on how friendly their regimes are to western policies.
When a prostitute,like the Goat Sheikhs,asks a person to be virtuous,the call is appreciated but it loses its meaning coming from a prostitute.

Dear Bronco
I fully agree, it’s a sad yet true reality, those who are asking people to go and dies have nothing to loose, they want to be heroes on the expense of Syrians’ blood.
Unfortunately, I don’t think that Syria will get back to normal any time soon.

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Jad
The post# 102 is profound and I personally consider it the best read I had this week.
I have seen and heard the expats mentioned in the post,my response to their arrogance and ignorance is: remember that your kids are watching what you do and what you say and a higher authority will ask you what you did with your time and your money.
The same criticism is true for expats who discount every anti regime Syrian as a thug or an MB,many of those regime supporters came from privileged families who received preferential treatment from the regime but they think that other Syrians are not worthy of freedom and dignity,frankly speaking,I am sick of much of our expat community.

Humanist
I did not call the murshidyeen a cult,I was honest when I described how alawites see them,I also added that they should be free to practice their religion,the burden of proof is not on people like me but on those who classify people as believers and non believers and treat them as such.
Even in the US,many Christians consider Mormons a cult but they let them practice their religion freely and one of them,Romney,may become president,there is no clause in US constitution that mention the president’s religion,that is why Obama got elected despite being the son of an African man named Hussein,and it will not be long when a Jewish,or even a Muslim,receives this honor or at least the VP spot,Liberman got very close.
(I am not going to involve abughassan in this discussion)
ام كلثوم تغني قصة الأمس في شام أف ام الان

Ghufran
“many of those regime supporters came from privileged families who received preferential treatment from the regime”
My experience is so different that yours, almost every person I know who his parents/him were either Baathist or in a political position or in a government position and I very well know of their corruption and where and how did they get all the money from and moved to the west are actually vocal anti-regime today, their sudden ‘moral’ wake up is more disturbing than comforting and it creeps me out to realize hat the same people who are responsible for almost every ill Syria has are the same ones who want to save us.

That’s what I call confusion: Al Araby says that the Arab League peace plan does not ask that the president step down, but only delegate powers to the vice-president

U.S., allies drop Syria sanctions demand, seek deal with Russia at U.N.http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/us-allies-drop-syria-sanctions-demand-seek-deal-with-russia-at-un/2012/02/02/gIQAxuqlkQ_story.html
…
The Arab League secretary general, Nabil Elaraby, and the chairman of the league’s council of ministers, Qatari Prime Minister Hamad bin Jasim al-Thani, have appealed to the Security Council to lend its weight to a plan calling for the beginning of talks between the Syrian government and opposition, leading to the establishment of a unity government within two months. Under the plan, Assad would be required to grant one of his deputies authority to cooperate with the united government, which would be led by an individual selected by rival parties.

Elaraby sought to reassure Russia that the resolution is not intended to justify military action, to sanction Syria or to force Assad to leave power.

The Russians “don’t want the Arab peace plan, which says the president delegates power to the vice president,” he said in an interview with CNN. “We didn’t ask that the president should step down, but only to delegate powers to the vice president.”

Jad,
I think it is a mix,both groups are wrong,the second group is what I called incidental revolutionists,I have more respect for those who are wrong for the right reason,does this make sense?
BTW,this phenomenon is seen today in all of countries that witnessed a regime change.
Most revolutions are started by motivated brave young people who end up on the sideline while opportunistic politicians capture the fruits of a regime change,that is what happened in Iran and is happening in front of our eyes now.

After two days of long-winded speeches, NATO and the Arab League finally appear to have noticed that Russia isn’t going to capitulate on the Syria resolution at the UN, and now say they are dropping all calls for sanctions or Bashar Assad’s ouster and are looking for negotiations.

Indeed, Arab League leader Nabil ElAraby is backpedaling so quickly that he’s revising history, insisting now that the Arab League’s “Yemen solution” for Assad to step down in favor of his Vice President never really meant for Assad to step down but instead of delegate certain powers.

A new compromise resolution is reportedly in the works, and it will finally answer long-standing Russian demands for a resolution “without foreign military intervention” and expressly including a clause warning nations not to “resort to the use of force or the threat of force.”

But while the “Yemen solution” appears dead so far as Syria’s government is concerned, and the UN Security Council resolution is not going to force the issue, US and European governments are hard at work looking for a potential exile locale for Assad, should he eventually decide to step down. His choices appear limited – reportedly no European nation will take him, and the Saudis, the default exile hosts for most Arab dictators, do not particularly like Assad either. The United Arab Emirates is reportedly “open” to the idea, but this seems far from a solid deal, presenting one more obstacle to a negotiated solution.

I can not wait to see a new leadership in Syria for a number of reasons,one of my selfish reasons is to finally see a new set of people receiving the blame for all of the country’s ills,if you think people will suddenly stop demonstrating and thugs will magiccally disappear after a regime change,think again.
Syria has a long way to go before the major issues of corruption,oppression and nepotism are gone or get under control,and that will not happen overnight and it requires a popular cultural revolution. The time for a new political phase is now,but expect a long journey,my feiends.
for the time being,anything that does not lead to the cessation of killing is a non starter, and the writings are all over the walls: people under threat of physical extinction are not good negotiators,the instict of survival takes over the brain.

“• The United States, European governments and Arab states have begun discussing the possibility of exile for Bashar al-Assad, according to Reuters. One official said as many as three countries were willing to take him as a way to bring an end to Syria’s bloody 10-month-old crisis. “We understand that some countries have offered to host him should he choose to leave Syria,” a senior Obama administration official said.”

As expected (#136), the Russians will veto the new sugar-coated resolution if it keeps the clause calling for “full support” of the Arab League Plan. They won’t be tricked as the Arab League plan calls for Bashar al Assad to step down and this is out of the question.

UNITED NATIONS, Feb 2 (Reuters) – Russia shot down suggestions from some U.N. Security Council members of an imminent deal on a draft resolution aimed at stopping Syria’s bloody upheaval, warning it would veto the current text if it were put to a vote on Friday.

Pakistan’s U.N. envoy said on Thursday the council was “two words away” from agreement and the council chairman from Togo said a consensus was near on an amended version of a draft backing an Arab League plan for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to step down.

But Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin told a closed-door session of the world body that Moscow would veto the draft if it were submitted on Friday with a phrase saying the council “fully supports” the plan, several Western diplomats told Reuters.

It is Russia moment of fame. Longed by the Russians for long time after the fall of the USSR. Will see how long it will last. They are playing with fire. They are antagonizing the Syrian people who shall never forget. Once we achieve victory, we will give a small cozy farewell party to their naval base in Tartus.

Irritated
Yes I admit, after bashar killed over 7000 young man,after ruling in a dictatorship fashion, and steeling the people money, and run a very corrupt system, I admit I hate Bashar,your dirty wicked God.

jad,
it is hard to compete with our Lebanese brothers when it comes to the business of talking,but let me try.
Iran must corner the west by simply allowing inspection and assuring the GCC that there will be no nuclear bomb.Iran does not need a nuclear bomb,at least not now,the time is ripe for a change,it is either a regional conflict with no winners or a political settlement that helps everybody. Russia in particular does not want to start the year with a new war,Obama will not bomb Iran,and Sarkozi should be worried about his own political future. As for Syria,one problem among others is the presence of armed militias and common thugs who only listen to themselves,even if a settlmenet is reached between Syrians,those guys may still continue to fight til the end,Syria needs a strong army regardless if the regime gets out of the way or not,this is the middle east,that is one reason why I did not like engaging the army in this conflict and was opposed to hunting syrian soldiers and officers,if the army collapses,any future government will not have any teeth, and law and order will become a luxury that is unreachable.

pp2 Recalling General Assembly resolution A/RES/66/176 of 19 December 2011, as well as Human Rights Council resolutions S/16-1, S/17-1 and S/18-1,

pp3 Noting the League of Arab States’ request in its decision of 22 January 2012,

pp4 Expressing grave concern at the deterioration of the situation in Syria, and profound concern at the death of thousands of people and calling for an immediate end to all violence,

pp5 Welcoming the League of Arab States’ Action Plan of 2 November 2011 and its subsequent decisions, including its decision of 22 January 2012, which aims to achieve a peaceful resolution of the crisis,

pp6 Noting the deployment of the League of Arab States’ observer mission, commending its efforts, regretting that, due to the escalation in violence, the observer mission was not in a position to monitor the full implementation of the League of Arab States’ Action Plan of 2 November 2011, and noting the subsequent decision of the League of Arab states to suspend the mission,

pp7 Underscoring the importance of ensuring the voluntary return of refugees and internally displaced persons to their homes in safety and with dignity,

pp8 Mindful that stability in Syria is key to peace and stability in the region,

pp9 Noting the announced commitments by the Syrian authorities to reform, and regretting the lack of progress in implementation,

pp10 Reaffirming its strong commitment to the sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity of Syria, emphasizing its intention to resolve the current political crisis in Syria peacefully, and noting that nothing in this resolution authorizes measures under Article 42 of the Charter,

pp11 Welcoming the engagement of the Secretary-General and all diplomatic efforts aimed at addressing the situation, and noting in this regard the offer of the Russian Federation to host a meeting in Moscow, in consultation with the League of Arab States,

1. Condemns the continued widespread and gross violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms by the Syrian authorities, such as the use of force against civilians, arbitrary executions, killing and persecution of protestors and members of the media, arbitrary detention, enforced disappearances, interference with access to medical treatment, torture, sexual violence, and ill-treatment, including against children;

2. Demands that the Syrian government immediately put an end to all human rights violations and attacks against those exercising their rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association, protect its population, fully comply with its obligations under applicable international law and fully implement the Human Rights Council resolutions S-16/1, S-17/1, S-18/1 and the General Assembly resolution A/RES/66/176;

3. Condemns all violence, irrespective of where it comes from, and in this regard demands that all parties in Syria, including armed groups, immediately stop all violence or reprisals, including attacks against State institutions, in accordance with the League of Arab States’ initiative;

4. Recalls that all those responsible for human rights violations, including acts of violence, must be held accountable;

5. Demands that the Syrian government, in accordance with the Plan of Action of the League of Arab States of 2 November 2011 and its decision of 22 January 2012, without delay:

(a) cease all violence and protect its population;

(b) release all persons detained arbitrarily due to the recent incidents;

(c) withdraw all Syrian military and armed forces from cities and towns, and return them to their original home barracks;

(d) guarantee the freedom of peaceful demonstrations;

(e) allow full and unhindered access and movement for all relevant League of Arab States’ institutions and Arab and international media in all parts of Syria to determine the truth about the situation on the ground and monitor the incidents taking place; and

(f) allow full and unhindered access to the League of Arab States’ observer mission;

6. Calls for an inclusive Syrian-led political process conducted in an environment free from violence, fear, intimidation and extremism, and aimed at effectively addressing the legitimate aspirations and concerns of Syria’s people, without prejudging the outcome;

7. Fully supports in this regard the League of Arab States’ 22 January 2012 decision to facilitate a Syrian-led political transition to a democratic, plural political system, in which citizens are equal regardless of their affiliations or ethnicities or beliefs, including through commencing a serious political dialogue between the Syrian government and the whole spectrum of the Syrian opposition under the League of Arab States’ auspices, in accordance with the timetable set out by the League of Arab States;

8. Encourages the League of Arab States to continue its efforts in cooperation with all Syrian stakeholders;

9. Calls upon the Syrian authorities, in the event of a resumption of the observer mission, to cooperate fully with the League of Arab States’ observer mission, in accordance with the League of Arabs States’ Protocol of 19 December 2011, including through granting full and unhindered access and freedom of movement to the observers, facilitating the entry of technical equipment necessary for the mission, guaranteeing the mission’s right to interview, freely or in private, any individual and guaranteeing also not to punish, harass, or retaliate against, any person who has cooperated with the mission;

10. Stresses the need for all to provide all necessary assistance to the mission in accordance with the League of Arab States’ Protocol of 19 December 2011 and its decision of 22 January 2012;

11. Demands that the Syrian authorities cooperate fully with the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and with the Commission of Inquiry dispatched by the Human Rights Council, including by granting it full and unimpeded access to the country;

12. Calls upon the Syrian authorities to allow safe and unhindered access for humanitarian assistance in order to ensure the delivery of humanitarian aid to persons in need of assistance;

13. Welcomes the Secretary-General’s efforts to provide support to the League of Arab States, including its observer mission, in promoting a peaceful solution to the Syrian crisis;

14. Requests the Secretary General to report on the implementation of this resolution, in consultation with the League of Arab States, within 21 days after its adoption and to report every 30 days thereafter;

15. Decides to review implementation of this resolution within 21 days and, in the event of non-compliance, to consider further measures;

UNITED NATIONS, February 3 — Three hours after the UN Security Council ended its consultations on Syria and spoke of a blue or “final” draft resolution to be sent to capitals, Inner City Press obtained the draft and it now putting it online, here.

As a non-Western diplomat told Inner City Press just after the consultations broke up, concessions were made such that now while the Council “calls for an inclusive Syrian-led political process,” it is explicitly “without prejudging the outcome,” in Operative Paragraph 6.

The non-Western Council diplomat said that means that Bashar al Assad does not have to delegate power to his deputy, even temporarily.

French Ambassador Gerard Araud on Thursday, even after agreeing to omit the original paragraphs 7a, b and c, insisted to Inner City Press that it still called for the “transfer” of power.

In the Council’s closed door consultations on Thursday, much time was spent insisting on the important of common interpretations, or at least common public statements and “no statements to the press.”

Also dropped, from the “blue” or final Operative Paragraph 16, is that the Council if it considers further measures would do so in consultations with the League of Arab States.

YEREVAN. – The Armenian community of Syria has found itself in a difficult situation because of the clashes in the country, Yerkir daily writes.

“Our Syrian-Armenian community sources inform that an Armenian youth was kidnapped yesterday [Thursday] in an Armenian district of Aleppo, and they demand close to fifty-thousand dollars as ransom. The number of local crimes in Syria has increased in the recent times, since the authorities are busy with suppressing the anti-government demonstrations. And the Armenians, specifically the rich, have become the targets of potential thieves. Numerous rich Armenians are getting threats these days. And the youth who was kidnapped, in line with some information, is wealthy, too, and he had just gotten married. Later, information was also received concerning a second such incident”

NEW YORK (AP) — The New York Police Department recommended increasing surveillance of thousands of Shiite Muslims and their mosques, based solely on their religion, as a way to sweep the Northeast for signs of Iranian terrorists, according to interviews and a newly obtained secret police document.

____________________________________________

The document offers a rare glimpse into the thinking of NYPD intelligence officers and how, when looking for potential threats, they focused their spying efforts on mosques and Muslims. Police analysts listed a dozen mosques from central Connecticut to the Philadelphia suburbs. None has been linked to terrorism, either in the document or publicly by federal agencies.

The Associated Press has reported for months that the NYPD infiltrated mosques, eavesdropped in cafes and monitored Muslim neighborhoods with plainclothes officers. Its spying operations were begun after the 2001 terror attacks with help from the CIA in a highly unusual partnership.

The May 2006 NYPD intelligence report, entitled “US-Iran Conflict: The Threat to New York City,” made a series of recommendations, including: “Expand and focus intelligence collections at Shi’a mosques.”

The NYPD is prohibited under its own guidelines and city law from basing its investigations on religion. Under FBI guidelines, which the NYPD says it follows, many of the recommendations in the police document would be prohibited.

The report, drawn largely from information available in newspapers or sites like Wikipedia, was prepared for Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly. It was written at a time of great tension between the U.S. and Iran. That tension over Iran’s nuclear ambition has increased again recently.

Police estimated the New York area Shiite population to be about 35,000, with Iranians making up about 8,500. The document also calls for canvassing the Palestinian community because there might be terrorists there.

“The Palestinian community, although not Shi’a, should also be assessed due to presence of Hamas members and sympathizers and the group’s relationship with the Iranian government,” analysts wrote. The secret document stands in contrast to statements by Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who said the NYPD never considers religion in its policing. Kelly has said police go only where investigative leads take them, but the document described no leads to justify expanded surveillance at Shiite mosques.

The document also renews debate over how the NYPD privately views Muslims. Kelly has faced calls for his resignation recently from some Muslim activists for participating in a video that says Muslims want to “infiltrate and dominate” the United States. The NYPD showed the video to nearly 1,500 officers during training.

Documents previously obtained by the AP show widespread NYPD infiltration of mosques. It’s not clear, however, whether the May 2006 report prompted police to infiltrate the mosques on the list. One former police official who has seen the report said that, generally, the recommendations were followed but he could not say for sure whether these mosques were infiltrated.

A current law enforcement official, also familiar with the report, said that since it was issued the NYPD learned that Hezbollah was more political than religious and concluded that it’s not effective to monitor Shiites.

Both insisted on anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the program. On Thursday, Kelly described the document as a “contingency plan,” though that is not mentioned in the document and there is nothing indicating what would trigger such a contingency.

“This was a 2006 document that talked about what we would do if there were hostilities involving Iran,” he said. “It seems to me that it would be prudent for us to have plans in that regard.” Neither David Cohen, the NYPD’s top intelligence officer, nor department spokesman Paul Browne responded to emails or phone calls from The Associated Press this week.

Iran is an overwhelmingly Shiite country, but Shiites are a small percentage of the U.S. Muslim population. By contrast, al-Qaida is a Sunni organization and many U.S. leaders consider Shiite clerics as allies in the fight against homegrown extremism. Shiites are often oppressed overseas and many have sought asylum in the West.

The document is dated just weeks after Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told Congress that, “We may face no greater challenge from a single country than from Iran.” Even now, the U.S. remains particularly concerned with Iran, not only because of its nuclear research but also because intelligence officials don’t believe they know how Iranian sympathizers inside the United States would respond if the two countries went to war. By far, the largest group of Iranians in the U.S. lives in or around Los Angeles. Yet the NYPD, with a smaller Iranian population that police estimated at about 8,500 in New York City, shared the concerns about reactions to an open military conflict.

Asad Sadiq, president of the Bait-ul-Qaim mosque in the Philadelphia suburb of Delran, N.J., said the NYPD was being unfairly broad. “If you attack Cuba, are all the Catholics going to attack here? This is called guilt by association,” Sadiq, a dentist, said after seeing his mosque in the NYPD document. “Just because we are the same religion doesn’t mean we’re going to stand up and harm the United States. It’s really absurd.”

The AP showed the document to several veteran counterterrorism analysts. None said they had seen anything like it. “It’s really problematic if you make a jump from a possible international conflict to saying therefore we need to monitor Shiite mosques writ large,” said Brian Fishman, the former research director at West Point’s Combatting Terrorism Center. “It doesn’t follow.”

For instance, the NYPD analysts focused much of the report on the Alavi Foundation, a New York nonprofit group that the federal government has since accused of being secretly controlled by the Iranian government. Analysts then looked at a mosque where Alavi members prayed and that police say may have been linked to an effort to buy information about rocket technology for Iran.

There is no explanation, however, for how those suspicions warranted expanding surveillance to other Shiite mosques, including those far outside the department’s jurisdiction in Connecticut and New Jersey.

“Any time that you begin to isolate certain communities from a policing perspective because you think there’s risk, you have the potential that somebody overreaches,” said Robert Riegle, a former Department of Homeland Security analyst who oversaw efforts to work with state and local agencies.

At the Al-Mahdi Foundation mosque in Brooklyn, worshippers intoned their prayers Wednesday while touching their foreheads to disks of clay on the floor, a Shiite tradition. “After 1,400 years, the Shias are being targeted in Iraq, in Afghanistan, in Pakistan, everywhere,” Imam Malik Sakhawat Hussain said after being told that his mosque was in the NYPD document. “If U.S. authorities become suspicious of the Shias, I would say we are a very oppressed community of the world.”

At the Masjid Al-Rahman, a prayer hall in the basement of a Brooklyn apartment building, manager Abo Maher was surprised to see his mosque on the NYPD’s list of Shiite locations. “This isn’t even Shia,” he said. “Their information is wrong.”

The police department’s Demographics Unit, the secretive squad of plainclothes officers used to monitor restaurants, social clubs and other gathering spots, found similar issues in Iranian neighborhoods, one former NYPD official recalled.

Muslims make up only a fraction of New York’s Iranian community so squad members returned from their rounds in Iranian neighborhoods and reported finding Jews and Christians, the former official said.

Sadiq, the New Jersey mosque president, said about 250 families — mostly Pakistanis and Indians and few Iraqis — attend his mosque. Every few years, he said, an FBI agent stops by, introduces himself and asks whether there’s been any radical rhetoric in his mosque and whether he knows anyone with connections to Iran. The most recent meeting was just Wednesday, he said, and the NYPD would be welcome if it came openly.

The intelligence unit operates in secrecy with little outside oversight. The City Council is not told about secret intelligence programs. And though the unit operates under the auspices of a federal anti-drug task force and receives federal money, it is not overseen by Congress. The Obama administration, including the Justice Department, has repeatedly sidestepped questions about whether it endorses the NYPD’s tactics.

“They think that they can do whatever they want and get away with it,” Sadiq said. The document also suggests a broader international intelligence mission than the department has previously acknowledged. The NYPD has officers stationed in 11 foreign cities such as London, Paris, Madrid, and Tel Aviv, where they work with local police and act as the NYPD’s eyes and ears overseas.

In their recommendations for the foreign liaison unit, analysts wrote that officers should: “Focus international intelligence collection on the Iranian threat, to include the activities of the IIS, Hezbollah, Hamas etc. throughout Europe and the Middle East.”

NYPD officers abroad are not supposed to be spies and do not answer to the U.S. director of national intelligence or the CIA station chiefs who coordinate America’s efforts to gather intelligence on Iran. In fact, the NYPD’s international officers aren’t even paid by the department. Rather, the program is paid for through a nonprofit foundation that raises money from corporate donors.

It has not previously been known that the NYPD would consider gathering overseas intelligence on Iranian intelligence services. The police department does not disclose details about the inner workings of the international program to the City Council, to Congress or to U.S. intelligence agencies.

The establishment of an additional new opposition party called “National Current for Change” basically it collect the most aggressively vocal Syrian opposition figures, Ashraf Moukdad, Ammar Qurabi, Wa7eed Saqr, Bahiya Mardini, Bassam J3ara and others who share the same views, in short, the ‘Nato worshiper’ crowds, now SNC has a very loud competitor for who can beg the Nato more and shout and curse louder than the other…
Another wild monster will enter the Syrian circus, GOD HAVE MERCY ON ALL OF US!

Before 2006 it was highly unthinkable to see young Germans running around with flags or be openly proud of their country. ( except those soccer fans) With the 2006 world cup in the country changed a lot, it was no longer an obstacle to many to be proud of being german. But i would say until now we still arent so nationalistic, many dont know the national song, you hardly see flags on peoples property, just in front of national symbols. I put it that way many give nationalism a miss, its just not so important.

Sulsyman al-Murshid is from Jawbat Burghal and not from al-Ghab. Also, the Alawis do not consider the Murshdiyah as heretic, never heard of that. There is no text or edict to consider them heretic the way the Sunnis has a number of those decrees issues by their Sheikhs claiming the Alawis as heretics. The Alawis do not have a council (like the Sunnis) to see if these people are heretic or not. Never heard of that too. The Alawis I know take the beliefs of the Murshidiyah as something that does not concern them.

Syria Resolution Part of Proxy War Against Iran
by grtv
The UN Security Council has agreed it wants to avoid military intervention in Syria – but differences remain over the way ahead. The U.S. – as well as its European and Arab allies – want President Assad out of power. For its part, Russia says the UN shouldn’t be used as a platform for excessive interference in Syrian affairs.

Neil Clark, a journalist and contributor to the Guardian, believes that Russia’s stance on Syria has much more international support than one may assume.

“It would be mistake for the Russians to think that they are isolated,” he said. “They are not, they have world opinion. It’s just the West which shouts the loudest. Britain, France, America, Israel, a few Arab states backed by the West – this is not the world. This is not the international community.”

The number of death in Syria is reported by the liars of the Human watch group in London, who is 100% radicals and even worse then that they are the murders of many best of the Syrians over the last 60 years of Syria History after independence.
It is clear that there many dead people but it is more clear that many of the dead are killed by the terrorists, mercenaries oppositions as Ehsani found on his visit to Syria.
Russia and many of the world is saying that but the western propaganda and the some of the Arabs traitors are lying about it.
regime change is not going to happen in Syria to please the Israeli and the Americans.
the Radicals are taking all over the middle east that’s the new neocons policy of the Americans I am sure the is a reason for that maybe to bring the middle east countries back the age where pigs are more important then Arabs.
I believe any animal in the west is more important then arabs anyway! I have seen people spending almost 50K$ on one animal cancer treatment which many Arabs can’t afford.
One day we will know that the number of death in syria is a very inflated and probably many of the people who have died were the one killed by the criminals in Syria.
the Saudis prisons are full of people who are held without due process and tortured on a daily basis, same the other GCC countries but It is only the Syrian regime who is blamed for torturing its opposition. how about the Secret prisons the USA uses outside USA or how about the KGB. Mexico is a very rich country but very corrupt and worse than syria and many others i think the USA should invest in turning the regime there and have a mexican spring than an arab one.
go to hell the american policy! BTW Russia is awake and the UNSC is not passing anything it is going to fail worse than the AL and will see the Americans walking with their tails down. i love Hillary tail when i met her few years ago as a senator it was short now it is very long as a state secretary.

BTW where is Robert Ford, is he playing Extra in any Hollywood movie coming out soon, I have not heard any recent egg throwing at him.
Is he convinced that the Syrians don’t want him around and they know that he is a Pig pretending to be a dove.
one conclusion from the Syrian and other Arabs springs that arabs are going to be led and ruled by the Americans and the Israelis for centuries to come.

#154. Uzair8 I listened to the eyewitness reminiscence of the Hama massacre on the BBC link you gave us.

It took 3 nightmare weeks and the Government brazenly denied and lied about it during and after. The town exits were blocked by the army, communications cut, schools and hospitals shut, the media were kept away and there was an information vacuum inside Syria,the army went house to house and there were forced pro-Government rallies of the residents. A lot of the reminiscences came from a man who was 16 at the time and courageously went out every day to witness what was going on as the bodies mounted and were bulldozed, even taking photos.

The similarity to the Government’s current behaviour is chilling. You can see how easy, if not inevitable, another Hama or two would be for Bashar and Co.

Sickeningly, the sadistic Rifaat Assad, who directed the Hama operation, is living a fine life in the west, and I note his smartass con artist son is out there promoting and defending his cousin Bashar to whoever will listen. I hope the current commemorations of the Hama massacre are proving socially inconvenient for them.

However, just to put his bet both ways, Rifaat still shared some unkind insider info about his nephew Bashar, suggesting he is not a leader as his father was, more just taking orders from others.

But not as mean as the other properous exile Khaddam, who tells the same reporter how weak little Bashar was cruelly bullied by his brother Basil, and he’s “both brutal and indecisive” and so on.

http://www.hrw.org/news/2012/02/02/libya-diplomat-dies-militia-custody
Libya: Diplomat Dies in Militia Custody
Investigate Death of Former Envoy to France
(Tripoli) – A Libyan diplomat who served as ambassador to France died less than 24 hours after he was detained by a Tripoli-based militia from the town of Zintan, Human Rights Watch said today. Dr. Omar Brebesh, who was detained on January 19, 2012, appears to have died from torture.

A preliminary autopsy report viewed by Human Rights Watch said the cause of death included multiple bodily injuries and fractured ribs. Photos of Brebesh’s body, seen by Human Rights Watch, show welts, cuts, and the apparent removal of toenails, indicating that he was tortured prior to death. Human Rights Watch also read a report by the judicial police in Tripoli, which said that Brebesh had died from torture and that an unnamed suspect had confessed to killing him.

2 Americans were kidnapped in Egypt which is seeing a surge in crimes after the removal of Mubarak (hint).demonizing the police force and massive protests were critical factors in this sad outcome. One year after the revolution, things are not looking good in Egypt , a country that does not have Syria’s religious and ethnic diversity.

In the period after the Assad removal, we will have a very dangerous period,just like the one we witness now in Egypt, the cause of it is the economic situation, there will be chaos,crimes and frustrations,it will last a year or two, ofcourse the Assad is to blame since he refused to have orderly transition,and choose the oppresion solution, there will be revenge,no way we can avoid it,many will die, tens of thousands,We will need help from Arab countries.
We need to have a goverment ready to be in charge, I very much hope that the SNC,who has great people,form a goverment in exile to be ready to manage this period soon after the departure of Assad.

I remember your dismissing Nizar Qabbani’s political peoetry and commenting something to the effect that he was mainly good at writing “love” poetry. I wanted to comment at the time but let it slide until I saw Annie’s post at #146 above and your comment came to mind again.

Sadly, you don’t seem to know the full extent of his work because his political oeuvres were several notches more powerful and impressive (as in leaving a strong impression in one’s mind and heart) than his romantic stuff, excellent though it is. Did you listen attentively to #146 above? And after that ends you will be offered several other videos of or about him, not to mention the myriad of poems of his that you can find online, if that one poem was not proof enough. He was, still is and will forever be the tongue of all Arab dissidents and a painful thorn in the eye and side of all Arab dictators and their apologists.

Waking up to reality… starting to fear what comes after Bashar. Don’t you think it is too late. You would not be able to blame the regime anymore. Who would you blame? The opposition has opened a can of worms. The Syrians must live with these worms swarming their lives..
“We will need help from Arab countries.” oh yes, plenty of Saudi soldiers will do the job.

Nationalism like sectarianism and racism are sleeping virus. Now that Germany is successfull economically, is not involved in any controversial war, all is quiet on the front.
Nazism grew in a moment of deep economical crisis.
Pray God that Germany stays economically successful, as the virus is waiting to come out even if it shows no signs.
This is also probably why the inconsciently Germans are so eager to work hard to avoid such situation where their old demons may come back.

Today’s realities—which include both already radicalized and radicalizing neighboring Arab states and parties and increasingly militant non-Arab Muslim states in an outer ring (Turkey, Iran, Pakistan)—have prompted Israel to expand its concept of the potentially friendly or even aligned “periphery” to include such states as Azerbaijan, India, Greece, Bulgaria, Romania and (Greek) Cyprus. Last month, Southern Sudan’s president, Salva Kiir Mayardit, visited Israel, and Netanyahu is expected to reciprocate the visit this year. For decades, Israel supplied southern Sudan’s Christian and animist rebels with arms and training in their guerrilla war against (northern) Sudan’s Muslim Arab government. Now that the South is independent, it is likely that relations with Israel, including military relations, will flourish.
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Domestically, the Russian government fears the fast-growing internal opposition movement since the early December parliamentary elections, which was marred by fraud and ballot stuffing. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who is seeking a return to the presidency next month, seems to be convinced that any popular protest in any part of the world, and especially in the Middle East, is supported by the US; it will have a domino effect and it will hence be inspiring for his internal opposition. The closer he, therefore, gets to the March election, the more resistance he will produce to prevent a victory by the opposition in Syria. Here, Putin is in fact defending himself not the Syrian regime.
…
Finally, Russia seems to be concerned about the rise of Turkey’s influence in the Middle East, the Balkans, Central Asia and Caucasia. With one third of its population being Muslims, Russia views Turkey’s policies, especially under the Islamically-oriented government of the AKP, with great suspicion. Turkey is marketing itself as model of liberal Islam in the Islamic world and with the ascendance of Islamist forces in all of the Arab countries which have so far witnessed change; Turkey is acting or presenting itself as a mentor for these forces.

Bearing in mind the centuries-old historic animosity between the Sunni Muslim Ottoman Empire and Christian Russia, Moscow is absolutely alarmed by the rise of Turkey and its interpretation of Islam. Should the Syrian regime fall too, Turkey, which has openly supported the opposition, is set to benefit the most.

“Here’s a crash course on the “democratic” machinations of the Arab League – rather the GCC League, as real power in this pan-Arab organization is wielded by two of the six Persian Gulf monarchies composing the Gulf Cooperation Council, also known as Gulf Counter-revolution Club; Qatar and the House of Saud.

Essentially, the GCC created an Arab League group to monitor what’s going on in Syria. The Syrian National Council – based in North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) member countries Turkey and France – enthusiastically supported it. It’s telling that Syria’s neighbor Lebanon did not.

When the over 160 monitors, after one month of enquiries, issued their report … surprise! The report did not follow the official GCC line – which is that the “evil” Bashar al-Assad government is

indiscriminately, and unilaterally, killing its own people, and so regime change is in order. ”
{…}
“The report is adamant. There was no organized, lethal repression by the Syrian government against peaceful protesters. Instead, the report points to shady armed gangs as responsible for hundreds of deaths among Syrian civilians, and over one thousand among the Syrian army, using lethal tactics such as bombing of civilian buses, bombing of trains carrying diesel oil, bombing of police buses and bombing of bridges and pipelines.”
{…}
“The Syrian National Council is essentially a Muslim Brotherhood outfit affiliated with both the House of Saud and Qatar – with an uneasy Israel quietly supporting it in the background. Legitimacy is not exactly its cup of green tea. As for the Free Syrian Army, it does have its defectors, and well-meaning opponents of the Assad regime, but most of all is infested with these foreign mercenaries weaponized by the GCC, especially Salafist gangs. ”
{…}
“So here’s a suggestion to the House of Saud and Qatar; since you’re so seduced by the prospect of “democracy” in Syria, why don’t you use all your American weaponry and invade in the dead of night – like you did to Bahrain – and execute regime change by yourselves?”

We bring to the attention of our readers the Observers’ Mission Report of the League of Arab States to Syria.

The report acknowledges the existence of “an armed entity” involved in the killings of civilians and police as well as the conduct of terrorist acts, which in turn have contributed to triggering actions by government forces.

The Report refers to “armed opposition groups” as well as to the “Free Syrian Army”, both of which, according to the AL Mission, are involved in the deliberate killing of innocent civilians:

“In some zones, this armed entity reacted by attacking Syrian security forces and citizens, causing the Government to respond with further violence. In the end, innocent citizens pay the price for those actions with life and limb.

“In Homs, Idlib and Hama, the Observer Mission witnessed acts of violence being committed against Government forces and civilians that resulted in several deaths and injuries. Examples of those acts include the bombing of a civilian bus, killing eight persons and injuring others, including women and children, and the bombing of a train carrying diesel oil. In another incident in Homs, a police bus was blown up, killing two police officers. A fuel pipeline and some small bridges were also bombed. ”

“Such incidents include the bombing of buildings, trains carrying fuel, vehicles carrying diesel oil and explosions targeting the police, members of the media and fuel pipelines. Some of those attacks have been carried out by the Free Syrian Army and some by other armed opposition groups.”

The Mission also underscored to role of media distortion in the coverage of events in Syria as well as the campaign to discredit ithe Mission’s findings:

“The Mission noted that many parties falsely reported that explosions or violence had occurred in several locations. When the observers went to those locations, they found that those reports were unfounded.

The Mission also noted that, according to its teams in the field, the media exaggerated the nature of the incidents and the number of persons killed in incidents and protests in certain towns.”

The Report also underscored attempts to discredit the Mission and dismiss its findings:

Arab and foreign audiences of certain media organizations have questioned the Mission’s credibility because those organizations use the media to distort the facts. It will be difficult to overcome this problem unless there is political and media support for the Mission and its mandate. It is only natural that some negative incidents should occur as it conducts its activities because such incidents occur as a matter of course in similar missions.

Also of significace were attempts by officials of AL governments to pressure several of the observers into providing “exaggerated accounts of events”.

Some observers reneged on their duties and broke the oath they had taken. They made contact with officials from their countries and gave them exaggerated accounts of events. Those officials consequently developed a bleak and unfounded picture of the situation.

Also of significance is the fact that the Mission acknowledged that peaceful protests by unarmed civilians against the government were not the object of government crackdowns:

group team leaders [of the Observation mission] witnessed peaceful demonstrations by both Government supporters and the opposition in several places. None of those demonstrations were disrupted, except for some minor clashes with the Mission and between loyalists and opposition. These have not resulted in fatalities since the last presentation before the Arab Ministerial Committee on the Situation in Syria at its meeting of 8 January 2012.

While the Mission does not identify the foreign powers behind “the armed entity”, the report dispels the mainstream media lies and fabrications. It largely confirms independent media reports including Global Research’s coverage of the armed insurrection since April 2011.

And Juppé advises the Syrian Christians to dissociate from Bashar without offering them any protection or guarantee.
If he does not remember what happens to the Iraqis Christians, the Syrians know it well since they are the ones who hosted the refugees while France and the Western countries were looking on the other side.

With such a report denying all Al Jazeera’s rantings and biases, no wonder HBJ rushed the AL to the UNSC.
No wonder too that the Al Jazeera tried all it could to discredit the mission and Al Dabi and spread its poison in international media.
One more observer mission reports like would have destroyed the whole structure he has been funding for the last months.

A the UNSC, he is not dealing with dummies, he already got a slap and I don’t think it is the last one.
Contrary to the weak and confuses Arab FM, the Russians are tough cookies.

Remember that ALL foreign countries, including the USA warned the opposition to keep the demonstrations peaceful and avoid at all costs to use violence and weapons against the regime.
This is why the pro-opposition media and groups have tried all they could to deny the existence of these armed gangs and mutineers.

Now the reality blew up to their face at the AL meeting in Cairo, so it was so embarrassing that the Qatarmafia tried to prevent the publication of the report, withdrew the observers and hastily called for a UNSC’s immediate resolution to a regime change, hoping that the report would be forgotten.
The Russian objections and the delays have given a chance to the report to pop up in the media and is now contributing to re-enforce the Russian stand and weaken the Qatarmafia.
What tricks are they are going to use? probably escalation of violence and intense media misinformation so the world believes that the AL plan will save the lives that Russia’s “killing machine” is executing. Yalla ya Al Jazeera, the lying machine!

KUWAIT CITY (AP) — Opposition groups that include hard-line Islamists have taken control of Kuwait’s parliament, according to election results Friday, in a rise that could limit the hands of pro-Western rulers in dealings such as U.S. plans to boost its military presence in the oil-rich Gulf nation.

The conservative surge also left the 50-seat assembly without any women lawmakers.
(..)

The main foreign-based Syrian opposition faction known as the Syrian National Council will not join the proposed Russian-hosted talks about a political settlement in Syria until the Syrian government ends anti-opposition violence and releases all political detainees.

The Council’s leader Burhan Ghalioun spoke about this in an interview published by Al Hayat on Friday.

The Syrian government and the Syrian-based opposition have indicated readiness to attend the Moscow talks.

TUNIS (Reuters) – Tunisian forces killed two gunmen and captured a third after clashes on Wednesday night with what appeared to be a group of Islamists smuggling weapons in the east of the country, several security and government sources said. (I guess Islamist have green light to smuggle weapon everywhere in the Arab world besides Qatar and SA)

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I wrote to Al jazeerah asking how come the live blog of Tunisia has been removed and we hear nothing on Tunisia anymore same with Libya as if these two countries are wiped of the map. I got a reply saying I should look under Africa tab. Which I did, but there was more news about Mogadishu and Somalia…The mission of destruction has been accomplished no need for survival count anymore.

CAIRO, Feb. 3 (Xinhua) — Egyptian Health Ministry said Friday that some 1,482 were wounded in clashes that erupted Thursday night between police and protesters near the Interior Ministry building in central Cairo.

The ministry said 835 of the injured were treated on the spot, while the other 647 were sent to hospitals, according to official MENA news agency.

During the clashes, the security forces fired tear gas canisters to prevent the crowds from reaching the building.

A new wave of protests has hit several areas of Egypt. In Suez, two people died and dozens were injured after protests erupted outside the provincial government institutions.

Local security authorities said thugs should be blamed for the clashes.

The protests were triggered by a riot of football fans in Egypt ‘s Port Said Stadium after a match on Wednesday night, in which 74 people were killed and hundreds injured.

Palestine is Still the Issue | Interview – The Angry Arab on Zionism, Syria, and more

{…}

AW: I put on Twitter that I was going to interview you, and I got several Syrians angrily Tweeting questions.

AA: On Facebook, if you read Arabic… both sides are very unhappy with me, and the Syrian regime side, they have a lot of supporters. And both sides are unhappy. What can I say? I have nothing to apologise for. If anything, I think the positions taken by the Syrian National Council have reinforced every single suspicion and doubt that I have harboured against them all along. I do believe there is a real conspiracy, and I believe there is an attempt to hijack a legitimate uprising against a repressive regime.

AW: One question on Twitter was: “How does it feel to be called a regime apologist?”

AA: If some intellectual goons of the Syrian National Council think that they can intimidate me or delegitimize what I do, by calling me a “regime stooge” or something like that, of course that’s not going to bother me, because I know myself. I mean, as long as I get a daily barrage of criticisms, and sometimes insults – not as obscene as the ones I get from the other side, but still from the side of the regime – I know where I stand.

When I was opposed to the Syrian regime in 1976 when they invaded Lebanon, to crush a great leftist movement at the time, these people who are criticising me now were not even born. So I don’t need any sermons about the stance against the Syrian regime. Their intellectual method is very clear. It’s quite funny, in fact – you may be opposed to the Syrian regime, you may call for its overthrow, you may support armed rebellion against the Syrian regime. But – if you don’t support the Syrian National Council, you are for the regime. What the fuck is that? It’s absurd. In other words, I want to reassure my enemies that their attacks on me and name-calling do not bother me in the least, and the more they come, the better. I want to make the life of my enemies miserable…

I don’t support the Free Syrian Army. Now I have received information that the Free Syrian Army of Riad al-Assad comes from the background of Hizb ut-Tahrir [a political-religious movement]. No, I don’t support that. I don’t support pawns of Turkish, Islamist intelligence. But the principle: I am in favour of the right of every Arab population to raise arms against its government. Absolutely, and I make no apologies about that.

AW: The Tunisian government as well?

AA: Absolutely!

AW: One of your criticisms of Al-Jazeera [the popular Arabic satellite TV channel owned by the royal family of Qatar] is that they now rely on anonymous sources a lot. Someone on Twitter wanted me to ask: “why then do you use anonymous sources on your blog?”

AA: I am not a newspaper. I am not a TV station. I am a blogger who is doing a very personal thing. I share whatever information I have, and even rumours. Sometimes I receive rumours and I share them with people. Sometimes they are true, sometimes they are not – and whenever I am given evidence that something I have put is wrong, I always say that I’m correcting it, and I don’t change it. I have a policy of never re-editing things I have posted after I’ve posted them.

On Al-Jazeera [Arabic], when they used to air Bin Laden’s tapes, they used to put the disclaimer every time: “We have not yet authenticated this statement” — even when it was very clear it’s Bin Laden! [But now] whenever they put various clips from YouTube, they never have any disclaimers…

AW: So don’t you think journalists might have reason to be using anonymous sources in Syria?

AA: I did not in any way oppose the use of anonymous sources in journalism. I was making the point about how Al-Jazeera is now comical. This is like a caricature of propaganda TV in the Arab world…

AW: What accounts for the shift? Is it purely [Qatari] reconciliation with Saudi Arabia?

AA: Absolutely… Basically, Al-Jazeera have become to me much more malleable, much more obedient in its service for the shifts in Qatari foreign policy than I’d expected. But it has become a campaign by Qatar and whatever Qatar represents… It has become so feverish, the campaign is so comical, it’s so lacking in credibility, and therefore lending an undeniable, unwitting hand to the Syrian regime.

From the Angry Arab today:
“Mason conspiracy
Speakers (especially Lebanese) on Syrian regime TV are out of control. They are invoking all sorts of theories. To them, Russia is a great super power again and is willing to defeat the US over Syria. They lately have been speaking about the Free Masons being involved in the Zionist plot against the Arab world. Kid you not. Yesterday, Lebanese Arab nationalist commentator, Rafiq Nasrallah, said that Henry Kissinger plotted the Sunni-Shi`ite split back in 1973. He did not explain, however, Kissinger’s role during the reign of Mu`awiyah.
Posted by As’ad AbuKhalil”

“Cooking for the male protesters
“She points out that Syrian women have been “providing logistical work for protest activity.”” Oh, spare me the fake attempt to attribute feminist motives to a movement that is led by the polygamous leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood. Yes, early on there were secular trends but they were marginalized by regime repression and by Ikhwan and Salafites who hijacked the uprising. Providing logistical work? Yes, that means preparing the meals. The protests in Syria have become increasingly segregated and increasingly male chauvinist.
Posted by As’ad AbuKhalil”

“Cicero speaks to Hariri rag
So Cicero speaks to Hariri rag, Al-Mustaqbal. He expressed “salutations” to Sa`d Hariri for his political stance vis-a-vis Syria and said that the Syrian National Council does not receive funds from Hariri. And people expect progressives to follow those types? You want to throw the label of “revolutionary” on such characters?
Posted by As’ad AbuKhalil”

In view of the UNSC resolution voting, I guess the Turks and the US are starting their pressure on the SNC to renounce to that pre-condition that will not be part of the resolution. If they stick to it, they will probably be sidelined and the dialog stipulated by the resolution will happen with the Syrian based opposition.

After 11 month of peaceful revolution, after over 7000 killed by Bashar thugs, and 60,000 were in jail, there are still people (pro regime)asking for the revolution to stay peaceful,
We need the FSA to get weapons,we need people to join the FSA, and FSA is the only way to win this revolution,God bless the FSA.

As there seems to be a growing acceptance in the international community that Bashar will not be asked to step down but may step aside ( as Obama asked months ago) and that a dialog between the opposition and the regime is the only way out, I guess Jumblatt is, as usual, gradually changing his stance.
In addition the Druze community in Syria seems to have stayed consistently on Bashar’s side.
If Jumblatt is a precursor of a shift in the public opinion, then it seems the shift is coming.

http://english.ruvr.ru/2012/02/03/65278680.html
No Syria-Iran trade-off – Moscow
In a statement issued by its Foreign Ministry Friday, Russia categorically dismissed speculation that it may turn a blind eye to an American-led attack on Iran provided the United States promises not to attack Syria.

It said any attack on a sovereign country without the permission of the UN Security Council would only make matters worse. It also said the threats of sanctions against Iran must give way to negotiations.

(TASS)

http://english.ruvr.ru/2012/02/02/65163021.html
US, Britain, France up for war
The United States, Britain and France have begun to deploy troops in the Gulf in a move which experts say suggests preparations for a war with Iran. The first strikes could be carried out at the beginning of the summer, media reports say.

According to reports, troops are arriving at Masirah Island in Oman which is located south of the Strait of Hormuz where a US air base is deployed. Two American strike groups are currently stationed in the Gulf. Some reports say that the grouping will be reinforced with one more aircraft carrier, the destroyer Momsen and the nuclear submarine Annapolis. The US is also enhancing its presence in Israel and Kuwait. British troops and troops from the United Arab Emirates have been arriving in Saudi Arabia. The main target is Iran, whose nuclear program has long been an issue of particular concern in the West. Reports leaked out into the press that hundreds of penetration bombs capable of destroying heavily fortified underground bunkers have been delivered to an American base on the British Island of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean.

The Strait of Hormuz, a major waterway for the transportation of Gulf oil to regions across the world, serves as yet another pretext for going into open confrontation. Tehran has threatened to block it, and the allies are getting ready to strike if it keeps its word. However, none of the countries involved is prepared for war, Vladimir Sazhin of the Institute of Oriental Studies, says.

“All countries involved in this conflict are facing domestic problems. An election race has got under way in the US. Parliamentary elections in Iran have been set for March 2nd, and presidential elections have been scheduled for the summer of 2013. France’s presidential elections are just round the corner, and Europe as a whole is too preoccupied with its own economic problems to handle another war.”

However, a concentration of military forces in the Gulf creates an explosive situation in the region. One accidental shot would be enough to trigger fire on both sides. If that happens, Vladimir Sazhin says, the allies will have a clear advantage.

“Should military operations start, the United States will send powerful naval groups backed by a large number of planes, and strategic bombers will fly from the Diego Garcia base in the Indian Ocean. The US will be joined by Britain, France and Arab oil-producing monarchies in the Gulf. Iran has no allies in the region. Syria is not in the best of shape to support it. Tehran can count only on Hezbollah in Lebanon and possibly, on Hamas in Gaza.”

The most unpleasant thing about all this is that the deployment of troops in the Gulf and stoking tensions may disrupt talks between Iran and international organizations. Many countries, first of all Russia, believe that neither using force nor imposing sanctions will help resolve the conflict. Russia’s Ambassador to the UN Vitaly Churkin has this to say.

“Sanctions have long become ineffective, so the Iranian issue has no room in the UN Security Council. The six-party talks on Iran and talks between the IAEA and Iran should take center stage on the international agenda because they give some hope. IAEA representatives are currently visiting Iran to look into the possibilities of arranging a six-party meeting with Iran. Even though there is hope, the increasing confrontation between the West and Iran is causing more and more concern. The Iran problem is going to be the hottest in 2012.”

All countries of the Collective Security Treaty Organization share Russia’s concern. China is yet another major international player opposed to a military campaign against Iran. Unfortunately, neither protests from China, nor warnings from Russia have had any effect on the allies as they step up preparations for a new Middle East conflict.

Opponents of Syrian President Assad on Friday stormed the embassy in Berlin. – Photo: dapdGut two dozen dissidents stormed on Friday, according to police and an eyewitnesses of the Syrian embassy in Berlin.

About 20 to 25 people have entered on Friday the empty Syrian embassy in Berlin-Tiergarten. The intruders broke open the door to get into the building in the Rauchstrasse, a police spokesman said. Inside the building, the invaders destroyed by its own pictures of President Bashar al-Assad and his father Hafez al-Assad. From two windows on the first floor they hung a banner and a flag of the Syrian opposition to the Syrian Kurds. At the main entrance, they sprayed the slogan “Down with Bashar.” The front of the building was sprayed with slogans. The police picked up some of the sprayer and detained them.

After the intruders left after 20 minutes and gathered outside the fence for a demonstration.

If the intruders are suspected of being Syrian, according to police. The building was empty. People were not injured. Information about the background, the police do not know yet. The regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad’s been months ago with brutal violence against critics. Thousands of people were killed. On Friday went to others in the opposition stronghold of Hama many residents against the government on the road. Occasion was the anniversary of a massacre, the soldiers of Hafez Assad’s father in 1982 had committed against the population, reported government opponents.

Russia Blocking UNSC Resolution on Syria
West & Arab proxies fail to swindle world with genocidal Libya-style regime change resolution at UNSC.
“…the UN is debating how to stop a conflict that it says has killed more than 5,400 people and is evolving into a civil war,” reports Businessweek. What Businessweek fails to mention is that the casualty reports continuously cited by both the UN and the corporate-media, come from an overtly compromised UN human rights report made up of “witness testimony” recorded not in Syria, or even in neighboring countries, but in Geneva by witnesses supplied by Syria’s foreign-funded opposition movement.

Additionally, the UN report was compiled not by objective third-parties, but by Karen Koning AbuZayd, a director of the US Washington-based corporate think-tank, Middle East Policy Council, that includes Exxon men, CIA agents, US military and government representatives, and even the president of the US-Qatar Business Council, which includes amongst its membership, AlJazeera, Chevron, Exxon, munitions manufacturer Raytheon (who supplied the opening salvos during NATO’s operations against Libya), and Boeing.

Clearly then, one can understand why Russia, China, and other nations are hesitant to sign onto what seems to be more of a plot of foreign-destabilization aimed at long planned regime change in Syria, than any legitimate concerns about the government’s alleged transgressions against an overtly armed, violent, and foreign-backed insurrection.

Businessweek notes that Russia’s hesitation may be well-founded with Libya in hindsight. Of course in Libya, a UN no-fly zone designed to allow NATO forces to “protect” Libyan civilians from government atrocities later determined to be fabricated, immediately turned into close-air support for foreign armed Libyan Islamic Fighting Group terrorists who committed a documented array of atrocities as they starved out and destroyed entire Libyan cities. One such city, Tawarga, saw its entire population of 30,000 purged by NATO-backed rebels, leaving what the London Telegraph described as a “ghost town.”
With this in mind, and even literally the same NATO-backed Libyan rebels now operating on Syria’s borders, it would be morally abhorrent for Russia, China, Brazil, India, South Africa, and others to allow what is clearly a repeat performance of NATO’s genocide in Libya, on behalf of Wall Street and London’s corporate-financier elite through the US, UK, EU governments, NATO and the UN.

It should be noted that America’s calls for regime change in Syria are not simply the result of spontaneous uprisings inside of Syria and the government’s response, but the culmination of decades of policy aimed toward replacing Syria’s government with a more pliant proxy regime. The latest unrest was in fact funded by the US, with open admissions coming from the US State Department itself.

Syria has been slated for regime change since as early as 1991. In 2002, then US Under Secretary of State, John Bolton, added Syria to the growing “Axis of Evil.” It would be later revealed that Bolton’s threats against Syria manifested themselves as covert funding and support for opposition groups inside of Syria spanning both the Bush and Obama administrations.

In an April 2011 CNN article, acting State Department spokesman Mark Toner stated:
We’re not working to undermine that [Syrian] government. What we are trying to do in Syria, through our civil society support, is to build the kind of democratic institutions, frankly, that we’re trying to do in countries around the globe. What’s different, I think, in this situation is that the Syrian government perceives this kind of assistance as a threat to its control over the Syrian people.
Toner’s remarks came after the Washington Post released cables indicating the US has been funding Syrian opposition groups since at least 2005 and continued until today.

In an April AFP report, Michael Posner, the assistant US Secretary of State for Human Rights and Labor, stated that the “US government has budgeted $50 million in the last two years to develop new technologies to help activists protect themselves from arrest and prosecution by authoritarian governments.” The report went on to explain that the US “organized training sessions for 5,000 activists in different parts of the world. A session held in the Middle East about six weeks ago gathered activists from Tunisia, Egypt, Syria and Lebanon who returned to their countries with the aim of training their colleagues there.” Posner would add, “They went back and there’s a ripple effect.” That ripple effect of course is the “Arab Spring,” and in Syria’s case, the impetus for the current unrest threatening to unhinge the nation and invite in foreign intervention.”

As the UN debates “how to stop a conflict that it says has killed more than 5,400 people” they may wish to turn toward the regimes bent to the will of Wall Street and London and kindly ask them to stop arming and backing terrorist death squads on Syria’s borders. They may consider drafting a resolution against the use of “NGOs” like the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), the International Republican Institute (IRI), and the National Democratic Institute (NDI) to manipulate the political landscape of a foreign, sovereign nation-state.

While this is all wishful thinking, as these “international institutions” are nothing more than functionaries of Wall Street and London’s global ambitions, we must recognize that nations are increasingly reluctant to intervene in Syria, not because they are apathetic to the violence, but because it will only embolden the campaign of destabilization and terror demonstratively carried out by the West over the last year, built on similar campaigns carried out since the conclusion of World War II.

For the anniversary of so called the massacre of Hama in 1982, Dr Larbi Sadiki wrote an article in Aljazerah named: The revenge of Hama, 30 years on. I felt compelled to translate and post on Al Jazeera English blog (despite all the load of crap and thumps down that I have received) the accomplishment of Muslim Brothers in Syria prior 1982 – they were posted in Arabic by a lady named Mona in Arab times- I take no credit in compiling the data, I just translated to the best of my Arabic.
————–
These are the accomplishments of Muslims brothers in Syria prior to so called Hama Massacre (1982).
1- Killing Dr. Muhamad Fadel (1977-2-22) Dean of Damascus faculty of law and was the defense lawyer for Palestinians in Geneva. He contributed 22 books in international law.
2- Killing the researcher and neurological Dr. Mahmud Shahada Khalil
3- Killing judge Darwish Al Zouni (1980-12-20)
4- Killing professor and president bar association Nazih Jamali in Damascus
5- Killing colonel Abed El Karim Razouk
6- Killing the president of Mujtahed Hospital in Damascus Dr. Ibrahim Nahameh
7- Killing sheik Muhamad El Khatib, the orator of Amawi mosque
8- Killing sheik Muhamad El Shami in Aleppo
9- Killing sheik Muhamad Adnan Al Lazkani
10- Killing the scientist Dr. Youssef Sayegh, professor at the university of Damascus
11- Killing the journalist Muhamad El Horani
12- Killing sheik Muhamad Adib Zekour while praying
13- Killing sheik Muhamad Hisham Akili while praying

As for the massacres in name of Muslim brothers
1- The massacre of -Al Madfahieh- in Aleppo killing 100 and injuring many (I don’t have the exact count);
2- The massacre of – El Klassieh Street- in Aleppo in 1980, 8 died including 6 children and 20 injured in addition of homes and stores destruction;
3- The massacre of private company -El Tajzeheh- in Sabeh Baherat square in Damascus in 1980;
4- The massacre of Latakia in 1981, Muslim brothers entered the clinic of Dr. Abed El Rahman Hilal, killed four patients in waiting room, plus the one with Dr. Hilal at that time and injured 10 other patients;
5- The massacre of Homs 1980 in Warsha Street, killing three children, injuring four civilians and destroying several homes;
6- The massacre of Al Ashrafieh in Aleppo 1980, killing four workers and injuring 7 others.
7- The massacre of Milling Institution in Aleppo, killing 11 civilians and injuring 19 others.
8- The massacre of Al Azbarieh in Damascus, killing 173 civilians and injuring hundreds.

And the list goes on; this is a synopsis of what was happening in Syria prior Hama incident. Many innocents perished in Hama but security and peace rained for a long time since that event. With the same logic of people of Hama according to the author Dr Larbi Sadik taking revenge after 30 years means Iraqis and Afghanis will be taking their revenge from Americans in 30 years from now? As long as religions keep teaching revenge the world will never be in peace. What happened to compassion and forgiveness?

Frankly revolting. It shows how Assad Mafia Milicia is not professional in any sense. They are thugs, gangsters, burglars, criminals and ill minded people. The big problem is:

What are we gonna do with those people after the regime falls? If war longs they will be killed one by one but if the regime falls soon then they will live between syrian people and will probably create problems to be reinserted in an hipotetical civil society restoration.

Halabi
All those pro regime thugs are criminals,This is what they defend, this will fill their pockets,and they sleep without conscious,they never get tired defending their wicked God Bashar,they kneel and prostrate to kiss his dirty shoe, they know he is devil not God,they have no ethics or morality, but we will get rid of them, we will clean this world from them,

Syria itself was the product of a “Great Game” among rival empires. The nation-state we know as Syria today was invented by France and Britain, which carved it out of the old Ottoman province of Syria (which back then included all of Lebanon, Israel/Palestine and much of Jordan) while sharing the victors’ spoils at the close of World War I. Today, the country’s fate may rest once again on the outcome of power games in distant capitals.

The U.N. Security Council remains deadlocked over a response to Syria’s escalating civil war. The death toll is rising steadily as the Assad regime relies on its security forces to brutally suppress challenges from protesters, and by an insurgency dominated by defectors from the armed forces. But an Arab League-sponsored resolution demanding that President Bashar al-Assad cede power to a national unity government pending new elections, is getting the proverbial “Nyet” from Moscow, supported by fellow veto-wielder Beijing.

UN Security Council members have agreed to the text of a resolution on Syria. Reports say the new draft does not include provisions which Russia vocally opposed, namely an arms embargo and the resignation of President Bashar al-Assad.

“We have the text, which we will send to our capitals – and then we will wait for the result,” Churkin said after a four-hour closed session at the UN on Thursday. He added that the agreement on the resolution “does not at all predetermine its fate.”

A new version of the resolution has been put in its final form and prepared for a vote, Churkin said.

Diplomats have reportedly agreed to drop demands for an arms embargo against Syria and the resignation of President Assad.

However, the draft still “fully supports” the Arab League’s decision to “facilitate a political transition leading to a democratic, plural political system,” the Associated Press reports.

The Security Council could soon reach a consensus on issue, current council president Kodjo Menan of Togo said on Thursday. Security Council members want “swift action,” Menan said, but added that there is no deadline for such a decision.

The news follows days of heated political debates in the UNSC, with many members supporting a Western-backed draft calling for foreign nations to put an end to what some called the “Syrian killing machine.”

Russia and China were the only permanent Security Council members opposing the draft, reminding others that it was not their place to intervene in the domestic affairs of another country.

Russia’s permanent envoy to the United Nations Vitaly Churkin earlier said any proposals including an arms embargo or a demand for Assad’s resignation would be vetoed.

Diplomatic insiders say there had been two draft resolutions on the table in the UNSC. A version put forth by Morocco, the only Arab state on the Security Council, was opposed by Russia and China over provisions for foreign intervention in what both Moscow and Beijing call a ‘domestic’ affair. The two states had previously vetoed a similar resolution, fearing its passage would cause a repeat of the Libyan scenario with another NATO military incursion.

In turn, some UNSC members said Russia’s draft proposal was far too soft to have any effect on the conflict in Syria. To these claims, Churkin stressed the hope for a consensus on the matter, but noted that it was still too early to talk about a vote.

It is not in America’s plans to push for a resolution demanding foreign intervention in Syria, State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland announced on Thursday. She added that America wants a peaceful solution to the conflict in the country, saying that the situation in Syria is different from that of Libya. Nuland stressed, however, that the US is calling on other countries to back the toughest possible resolution on Syria.

­Michel Chossudovsky, the Director at the Center for Research on Globalization, believes that instead of revising the current draft resolution, the Security Council should scrap it and work out a new one, based on the results of the Arab League’s report.

“I think that resolution should be scrapped,” he told RT. “What they should do is throw out that draft resolution and have another one which actually focuses on the foreign forces – including Turkey, Israel, Saudi Arabia – which are supporting an insurgency in a sovereign country namely Syria.”

Chossudovsky believes that the Security Council paid too little attention to the Arab League observer mission’s “extremely explicit” report, which should be taken very seriously.

Sandro,
I hope you were not serious when you drew conclusions from the number of thumbs up and thumbs down posts received on this blog. The only conclusion from those numbers is that posters now have a predetermined position about posters not the message.
An anti regime poster can say ” the winter is cold” and he gets rewarded with a heavy dose of thumbs down from pro regime posters,and the same goes for the other camp.
Personally,I like to focus on the message despite the fact that many posters are now more predictable than aldounia tv or al-Ar’our.

Zoo
Till we see the final UN resolution,there is no need to get excited,The people in Syria will get rid of Bashar,would Bashar abide by the UN resolution, that will say immidiate halt to violence and allow peaceful,demonstrations, or is he going to snob the UN and continue the killing?

#217
What George Sabra said is ‘disturbing’ and ‘dangerous’ for the future of the Syrian Christian community, he made a huge mistake speaking on behalf of his own faith while he is not even a religious Christian (he is an ex-communist) and not as a politician that the future may depend on his words.
This is why I keep ranting that the SNC members are very dangerous to the future of Syria when they don’t realize what they say.
Identifying himself as a ‘Syrian Christian’, he voluntarily made three deadly mistakes thinking that he is gaining the trust of the MBs to ‘consider’ him as the new head of SNC (I doubt that he will get it):

1- The most humiliating statement is when he ‘consciously’ considered some people to be less Syrians than others because they belong to a religious minority group in the most primitive form of political surrender.

2- Intentionally dismissing the Christian activist sacrifices on the ground for ‘his’ ‘revolution’ which is disgusting.

3- For a pure political reason, attacking Bourhan Ghalyoun that he didn’t do enough while we all know that he did try, my guess is because he wanted to please the hawks in his MB council.

I honestly feel so sorry for the Syrian Christians for having so many ignorant people speaking on their behalf.
Ya 3eeb alshoum!

Syrian National Council President Burhan Ghalioun said in remarks published on Friday that the Alawite sect in Syria can protect itself by participating in the Syrian revolution.

Ghalioun told Al-Hayat newspaper that the SNC accepts holding dialogue with Iranians “if they release a statement recognizing the rights of the Syrian people, a democratic regime in Damascus, and [the need] to get rid of the current [Syrian] dictatorship.”

Ghalioun also said he expects Lebanon’s Hezbollah to embrace a stance that is “completely different” from the one it is presently adopting toward the Syrian situation “after Assad’s regime collapses.”

“[Hezbollah] only has the choice to cooperate and coordinate with Syria [even after Assad’s regime collapses] if it wants to become a positive force and not a group that seeks to sabotage the region.”

Hezbollah is mainly backed by Syria and Iran.

Ghalioun also said that Syrian Vice President Farouk al-Sharaa “will not be the president of a [Syrian] regime, but will only serve as a cover for transferring power [to his deputy].”

Last month, the Arab League asked the UN to support a new plan for resolving the crisis in Syria that sees Assad transferring power to his deputy and a government of national unity within two months. The UN Security Council convened earlier in the week to review an Arab-and Western-backed resolution to resolve the Syrian crisis.

http://www.itar-tass.com/en/c32/333983.html
03/02/2012
Russian ForMin denies any “swaps” with US on Iran and Syria
MOSCOW, February 3 (Itar-Tass) — The Russian Foreign Ministry said on Friday any sort of allegations about the so-called “swaps” between Russia and the United States on Syria and Iran are absolutely groundless.
“Regrettably we have to say that the Russian Argumenty Nedeli publication, referring to anonymous sources, is disseminating untruthful and absolutely groundless allegations about some “swaps” between Russia and the United States on Syria and Iran,” the ministry said in a comment. “It is utterly untrue that our country may allegedly agree to a secret deal giving a go-ahead for a U.S. combat operation against Iran in exchange of the West’s non-interference into Syria’s domestic affairs.”

Frankly, the UNSC resolution is still vague and not a victory to the Russians, and I’m not sure why some people on SC are so angry about it.
The resolution actually condemns the regime pretty bad and is not useless, some guys and girls need to wake up and deal with reality instead of keep hiding their heads inside a box they made themselves.

Zoo#235
Threatening minorities is useless, unaccepted and very damaging.
Where are the 75% majority? Why Ghalyoun and his MBs council doesn’t to threat them?

UNITED NATIONS Feb 3 (Reuters) – The U.N. Security Council will meet on Saturday to vote on a European-Arab draft resolution endorsing an Arab League plan calling for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to give up power, council envoys said.

“We are heading to a vote tomorrow,” a council diplomat told Reuters on Friday on condition of anonymity, adding that it was unclear if Russia would vote in favor, abstain or veto the resolution.

Diplomats said that the meeting was tentatively scheduled for 9:00 a.m EST (1400 GMT), though Russia had requested that it be pushed back to 11:00 a.m.

Russia, which threatened on Thursday to veto the text, had promised to submit suggestions for revising the draft on Friday. But diplomats said the drafters had received no proposals from the Russian delegation so far.

Some diplomats have expressed optimism that Russia will vote in favor of the resolution, which could be adopted unanimously by all 15 Security Council members. But others are more cautious, saying that Moscow might veto it as they did in October to a European-drafted resolution condemning Syria. (Reporting By Louis Charbonneau; Editing by Stacey Joyce and Jackie Frank)

When all of this is over there will be amnesty or clemency for the crimes committed during the revolution. It’s the only way to move the country forward. Many criminals will remain in Syria and go on with life, others will live in luxury abroad on our dime, like Khaddam and Rifaat.

Revenge, a great motivator, is destructive if left unchecked.

I will do all I can to make sure that the revolution is magnanimous in victory, and I know that members from the SNC, LCC, my friends and family and the non-violent protesters will work on that too.

So what do you do when you see a menhebak in the future? You say with smile: “I forgive you and hope that we can build our country together.”

“We have the text which we shall send to our capital cities and will wait for the result.” He added that doing so “does not predetermine its fate in any way.”

More on its text below.

On February 3, Itar-Tass headlined, “UN Security Council agrees on Syria resolution,” saying:

On February 2, tentative agreement was reached. Key Russia/China concerns were addressed. Some perhaps but not all. Resolution sponsors “urged all countries to launch an open political process headed by the Syrians in the atmosphere free of violence, fear, intimidation and extremism.”

Earlier drafts were one-sided ultimatums. Though softer, the new version “still contains some veiled threat of sanctions” or worse if Syria fails to comply within 21 days. “In this case, the (SC) may consider some additional measures.”

Therein lies one of several flaws. Saying passage is far from sure, The New York Times called the measure “wobbly,” adding that SC members fully support the Arab League plan.

“The mission was witness to acts of violence against government forces and citizens leading to death and injury of many. A case in point was the attack against a civilian bus which killed eight persons and injured others, including women and children.”

Heavily “armed opposition groups” are involved. In Homs and Daraa, for example, they used externally supplied “thermal bombs and anti-armor missiles.”

“In Homs, Idlib and Hama, (observers) witnessed acts of violence being committed against Government forces and civilians that resulted in several deaths and injuries.”

Various incidents “include the bombing of buildings, trains carrying fuel, vehicles carrying diesel oil and explosions targeting the police, members of the media and fuel pipelines. Some of those attacks have been carried out by the Free Syrian Army and some by other armed opposition groups.” However, naming them was unaddressed.

Media misinformation was also highlighted. For example, “many parties falsely reported that explosions or violence had occurred in several locations. When the observers went (there), they found that those reports were unfounded.”

Moreover, observers said government forces didn’t attack peaceful pro and anti-Assad demonstrations, except for minor incidents. While stopping short of blaming foreign governments, readers can draw their own conclusions from clear evidence provided.

As a result, mission findings were discredited for not delivering what Washington and rogue partners want. Arab League governments were heavily pressured to provide one-sided “exaggerated accounts of events.”

Mission head al-Dabi pointed fingers elsewhere. As a result, he was assailed for not cooperating and vilified for once running Sudan’s military intelligence under Omar al-Bashir. Washington wants him tried in the Hague.

New Draft Resolution

Its language states:

It “e)xpress(ed) grave concern at the deterioration of the situation in Syria, and profound concern at the death of thousands of people and calling for an immediate end to all violence.”

It welcomes “the League of Arab States’ Action Plan of 2 November 2011 and its subsequent decisions, including (on January 22) which aims to achieve a peaceful resolution of the crisis.”

It expressed disappointment that violence prevented mission observers monitoring as planned and forced suspending their initiative as a result.

It stressed “the importance of ensuring the voluntary return of refugees and internally displaced persons to their homes in safety and with dignity.”

It’s “(m)indful that stability in Syria is key to peace and stability in the region.”

It noted “announced commitments by the Syrian authorities to reform (but) lack of progress in implementation.”

It “(r)eaffirm(ed) its strong commitment to the sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity of Syria, emphasizing its intention to resolve the current political crisis….peacefully, and nothing in this resolution authorizes measures under article 42 of the (UN) Charter.”

It states:

“Should the Security Council consider that measures” short of “armed force….inadequate or have proved to be inadequate, it may take such action by air, sea, or land forces as may be necessary to maintain or restore international peace and security. Such action may include demonstrations, blockade, and other operations by air, sea, or land forces of Members of the United Nations.”

The resolution “demands that the Syrian government immediately put an end to all human rights violations and attacks against those exercising their rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association, protect is population, fully comply with its (international law) obligations….and General Assembly resolution A/RES/66/176.”

It included a laundry list against him alone. It ranged from killing civilians to disappearances, arbitrary detentions, preventing access to medical treatment, sexual violence, and ill-treatment, including against children.

It sounds similar to false or exaggerated anti-Gaddafi charges throughout NATO’s campaign against him. Assad’s now target one before moving on to the next one.

It “(c)ondemns all violence, irrespective of where it comes from (but not naming it), and in this regard demands that all parties in Syria, including armed groups, immediately stop all violence or reprisals, including attacks against State institutions, in accordance with the League of Arab States’ initiative.”

It calls for “all those responsible for human rights violations, including acts of violence, (be) held responsible.”

It demands “Assad’s government….without delay:

(a) cease all violence and protect its population;

(b) release all persons detained arbitrarily due to the recent incidents;

(c) withdraw all Syrian military and armed forces from cities and towns, and return to their original home barracks;

(d) guarantee the freedom of peaceful demonstrations;

(e) allow full and unhindered access and movement” of Arab League “institutions” and international media in all parts of Syria to accurately determine conditions; and

(f) give Arab League monitors “full and unhindered” access on the ground.

It calls for addressing all aspirations and concerns of Syria’s people, “without prejudging the outcome.”

It supports transitioning Syria “to a democratic, plural political system, in which” all citizens are treated equally.

Washington wants governments in both countries replaced by pro-Western ones. Doing so gives it unchallenged regional control, including over its valued oil and gas resources.

In his book, “Winning Modern Wars,” General Wesley Clark said Pentagon sources told him two months after 9/11 that regime change was planned in Iraq, Libya, Syria, Iran, Somalia, Lebanon, and Sudan. In weeks, Afghanistan was attacked. It’s now America’s longest war with no resolution in sight. Perhaps Syria’s next, then Iran.

United, Russia and China are bulwarks against it. Hopefully, they’ll demand language revisions to exclude interventionist wiggle room for Washington and rogue partners. It’s ominously there. Obama officials will take full advantage. Checking them is key.

Dear Halabi
How do we know that the video is actually for Syrian soldiers and not the other way around, what if that poor guy was a soldiers and those were the FSA and it’s a propaganda video to incite hatred ? It was proven that a lot of what is posted on Youtube is fake propaganda

From what I read, yes, the resolution is very critical of the regime but asks for stop of violence on ‘both sides’. That would require the return of the AL observers mission to make sure that the ceasefire is respected. A headache for the AL.
It also requests the AL to organize the dialog between the government and the opposition. If the SNC refuses to cooperate and to possibly travel to Russia for the dialog, they’ll bear the blame and will maybe be bypassed. Another headache for the AL.
In addition, if after 21 days there is no progress then the Securty council will meet again.
I think the regime will only withdraw its troops when the observers will be back and when the AL will take the responsibilities of the security of all the citizens in the cities they are leaving.
The AL will be obliged to take actions to this effect.
I guess that the opposition, furious at the UN if it does not require Bashar to step down, will escalate the violence and provocations. Of course, this will be useless because the UNSC will not meet every day about Syria. They are alone.

The AL has exhausted their ultimate card, the UNSC, now the game is totally in their hands and it is not an easy game as they can’t expect many countries to help while there are many countries that want the opposite

Halabi
There will never be amnesty for those who has blood on their hands, those will be tried and appropriate sentence will get to them.

Bronco keep wanting dialogue before stopping the violence, he is dreaming ,this will never happen,and the observers ,if they are to get back to work UN must be involved in it, Al Dabi must be removed,and international observers will be assigned the responsibility to oversee their mission.
The latest news,an hour ago, is that Russia will agree to limit Assad power.

As for how do I know that the video is real, I don’t but I also questioned it. I do know that I had an uncle who spent 16 years in prison because he wouldn’t submit to the Baath and corruption. No charges, no trial, just 16 years, released a few months before his death from cancer.

Another true story. In tenth grade I was playing football at Aleppo College, also known as Amercan, with some friends after school. Another class wanted in, but we were the older students and weren’t going to give in. A kid in the lower grade was there with some of his dads military bodyguards and a military jeep. The soldiers drove it onto the field and kids actually had to jump on the hood in order to avoid being run over.

That was enough to scare us off – no one was hurt but it wasn’t cool.

The amount of power that even the son of mid-ranking army or party official in Syria is unjust. The proud Syrian people don’t want to live like that anymore, no more humiliation.

Syria has been ruled by a dictatorship that has brutalized two generations. It’s time for freedom and this is the chance.

I hear you Majed, but you can’t get them all. Many need to be caught and punished, and anyone carrying out revenge must face the courts as well. At some point people have to move on. I am sure that the Islamic clerics will get together and call for it, other religions will too, then people will calm down and go about life. It happens everywhere and Syria is the same.

As long as Assad is not exiled to the US or Montreal, I am fine wherever he goes. My ultimate preference is really truly Sudan. Imagine him with the traditional Sudanese head piece.
….
Talking (or forcing) Assad into stepping down is sort of a separate issue, but the U.S. insists it’ll happen one way or another. And when it does, he’s going to need to go somewhere. Three countries have reportedly offered to take him, but the unnamed Western officials who spoke to Reuters wouldn’t say which ones. Historically, the path to exile can take some quirky turns, as this Qaddafi-related graphic from Good magazine shows. For now, the question of where to relocate Assad is an open one, so let’s take a look at the likeliest candidates:

United Arab Emirates: We’ll start with the only option named in the Reuters report. Though it doesn’t explain why U.A.E. would want him, the story said “one official said the United Arab Emirates might be among those open to the idea.” But the U.A.E., which the Associated Press in February called a “luxury refuge” for “political fugitives in exile” has a history of taking in political exiles, and several currently live there: “The roster of Emirate exiles includes former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, the late Pakistani ex-Premier Benazir Bhutto and a turncoat Chechen warlord who was gunned down by a killer with a gold-plated pistol.” The Gulf state has been a sharp critic of Assad recently, and was one of the bloc of countries that pulled its people from the Arab League’s monitoring mission in Syria…

Turkey: Syria’s northern neighbor has good reason to want peace south of its border, and its president, Abdullah Gul, reportedly told reporters there this week that he’d consider offering Assad’s family asylum if they asked. The Turkish government officially sides with the Syrian opposition, but the fighting has taken such a toll on cross-border commerce, as Reuters reported last week, that Turkey would likely be glad to accept Assad in order to calm things down. Turkey’s got some history with other exiled political leaders as well. It was the first stop for Leon Trotsky after he left Russia, and more recently its taken in Iranian dissidents. But before that, Turkey played host to Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

United Kingdom: Prime Minister David Cameron might think Assad is a “wretched tyrant,” but Assad’s wife is British, so that might get him some traction toward a UK exile. Former CIA analyst Bruce Reidel, now with the Brookings institution, also brought up the U.K. as an option in his comments to Reuters. The British tabloids love pointing out Assad’s wife Asma’s background at Queens College, so there could be some pressure on Cameron to allow the family to settle there. And there’s certainly precedent for leaders the U.K. disdained taking up residence there after they leave power: Vladimir Lenin lived in London after he left Russia in 1902, and a memorial to him even stood in the city until it was taken down during the cold war.

Russia: The loudest opponent of anything alluding to force in the United Nations’ wrangling over a Syria resolution, Russia might have to put its money where its mouth is and accept Assad as an exile. Though another suggestion of Reidel in the Reuters piece, it seems a long shot. That’s because Russia has sunk a lot of diplomatic capital into keeping Assad in power, and it’s easy to imagine the country would not be happy with him if he couldn’t keep hold of it. As UCLA professor Daniel Treisman explained at CNN Thursday, Syria holds Russia’s only Mediterranean naval port, and Russia also sells weapons to the Syrian Army. But since Russia’s such a benefactor to Syria, whatever new government takes Assad’s place will probably be keen to keep the relationship going. If Russia makes a transition smoother by allowing Assad refuge, it will also gain favor with his replacement. Russia has an interest in keeping Syrian unrest at a minimum, Treisman explained, because it’s concerned about that unrest spreading north. Helping to remove the figure causing all that unrest would be one major way to quell it.

For the first time in the many months of conflict I see a glimmer of optimism about a path forward as a result of developments at the UN Security Council. If the Arab League, the pro-opposition West, and the BRICS countries can reach a compromise plan for a Syrian transition to democracy, then there will be tremendous pressure on both they Assad regime and the Opposition to come into compliance with the provisions. And the Arab League monitors are already in position to assist in determining who is in compliance and who is not. And be assured, the text of the latest plan has provisions proscribing violence by both government and opposition.

25 % of the buildings of central Zabadani have been affected, totally or partially destroyed, some of them are still on fire. Whole families have been butchered inside buildings. Assad is confident that UN is useless and begins his last offensive against his own population.

Assad forever. If Assad dies his son Hafez must be the new president, with Maher as regent.

In the meanwhile the CRIMINAL will end with the life of 6.000 more innocent or oppositors. Do you feel optimistic? Don´t expect any reform from the CRIMINAL. Even a nuclear bomb could not eliminate them.

I agree with you. Qatar and the AL have been threatening the regime of the escalation to the UNSC as if they were sure it would be lethal to the regime. I turned out that it was not and that in the contrary it formalized the necessity of a dialog between the willing opposition and the regime, it reaffirmed the rejection of an imposed regime change and military option and it encourages a negotiated evolution toward a pluralistic and democratic system.
Beyond the hysterical calls for punishment and revenge, that is, I hope, what will happen because the regime, the opposition and the AL have no other recourses, the UNSC being the ultimate one.

“Analysts said that Russia had a huge interest in maintaining arms sales to the Assad regime. “Russia would not endorse a Libya-style freeze on selling military equipment to Syria when they are so heavily invested in all three branches of the Syrian military,” said Scott Johnson, defence analyst at IHS Janes, the defence consultancy. He said Syria has $3bn in debts to Russia for military hardware.”

Angry protestors are storming the Syrian Embassy in Cairo in protest against Homs massacre. Assad is trying to assassin Homs but Homs shall not die and will haunt him and his family until their bitter end. My heart cries for Homs today…

Clarifications on the contradictions in the previous article I posted @237

Bashar is not asked to leave. Yet this article is still fuzzy about the Arab league Plan.
Does the resolution ‘fully supports the Arab League plan” ( that calls for Bashar to leave) or only support “the decision of the Arab League to facilitate a democratic transition”
The wording of this is very important. We’ll have to wait

Security Council to vote Saturday on Syria: diplomat
AFPAFP – 2 hrs 16 mins ago
Members of the UN Security Council will meet Saturday morning for a vote on a resolution condemning the violent repression in Syria, a diplomat said.

“It is the same text that’s going to a vote,” a diplomat said Friday, referring to the draft resolution sent to the council’s 15 members the previous day.

That draft states the council “fully supports” an Arab League plan to facilitate a democratic transition, but leaves out explicit references to calls for President Bashar al-Assad to step down and does not mention an arms embargo or sanctions.

• Schoolchildren are being detained and tortured with impunity by the Syrian army, according to Human Rights Watch. It has documented at least 12 cases of children detained under inhumane conditions and tortured, as well as children shot while in their homes or on the street. “Hossam”, aged 13, recounted his treatment:

They interrogated me by myself. They asked, “Who is your god?” And I said, “Allah.” Then they electrocuted me on my stomach, with a prod. I fell unconscious. When they interrogated me the second time, they beat me and electrocuted me again. The third time they had some pliers, and they pulled out my toenail. They said, “Remember this saying, always keep it in mind: we take both kids and adults, and we kill them both.” I started to cry, and they returned me to the cell.

270 “Angry protestors are storming the Syrian Embassy in Cairo in protest”

Angy protestors are killing thier egyptian brothers. I wonder who are these angry protestors?? They were angry in the soccer game as well that left 80 innocent people dead. I smell MB big time in Egypt, I smell Qaeda too in both egypt and Syria. Such a mass plan and attacks in both countries simultaneouly could never be achieved without the help of radial islamists. Only the radical islamic terrorists are able to conduct such a mass murder; THEY ARE PROFESSIONAL

Syrialoversaid:
“Syrians are now openly remembering Hama. I feel very emotional.

“Incredible this day has now come.”

I am emotional too for the people who were kidnapped, killed, and filmed in a fabricated video, braodcasted by the mother f ALJAZEERA as the Syrian army killed them. Aldabi gave you a huge finger from Al7’artoom, a huge one as the elephant 7’artoom stating clearly that there has been crimes commited by armed gangs. Its useless to repeat the same thing over and over again for the last 8 months…..I really smell a victory, and there is no force on earth can defeat the free Syrians. We will prevail

Wait, here’s a nice clue. Rifaats’ slimy son Ribal using some of his father’s $ billions trying to influence British politicians a few months ago. (Yes, billions, that’s right, billions, stolen from Syria, to quote this report).

The UN resolution on which there will be a vote tomorrow is available nowhere. If any one finds it on internet , please post the link
It has been changed so many time, and the changes have been often reported or interpreted erroneously by the media. It would be better to read the original. Why is is hidden?

Ron Paul to Piers Morgan; ” Iraq was all lies and we are broke” does that sound a familiar story to the Syrians, in few years from now, Syria is going to be all lies to Obama as Iraq was all lies to Bush.
it is clear that the Americans have had their eye on Syria for a long time and now they are letting all their dogs out, including the pigs of the GCC and the trash and the Zebelah of MB.
it is a clear message that Syria is in the eye of the storm at the current time and as i said in the past that only Russia is the one who can save Syria from the Claws of the Americans and the criminals of the MB. Although all other countries in the middle east is falling in the hands of the radicals Muslims, i don’t think Russia will allow that given the radicals Muslims of the middle east they always have been the friends of Britain and USA.
all he radicals Wahabi have been in the hands of the Americans for decades if not centuries. Israel is very happy to have the radicals take over Syria because it secures a civil war in Syria and endless bloody future

With Russia balking at even a watered down Syria resolution and the Arab League concerned by the UN text’s weakening, Hillary Clinton is set to meet with Sergei Lavrov in Germany.
By Howard LaFranchi, Staff writer
posted February 3, 2012 at 7:05 pm EST
Washington

United Nations Security Council members contemplated a watered-down resolution on Syria Friday, with Russia balking at any wording that could be construed as support for “regime change” targeting President Bashar al-Assad.

But with Western powers anxious for some Syria action, and with Arab League supporters unhappy with the changes already made in the text and insisting they will accept no further weakening, prospects were growing for a last-ditch, high-level diplomatic encounter to salvage the resolution.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov are set to meet on the margins of the weekend’s annual Munich Security Conference in Germany. The two will meet to discuss the Syria resolution among other issues, State Department officials said. Late Friday the Security Council scheduled a meeting for Saturday, but it was uncertain whether a vote would be taken.
The US wants a resolution on Syria, and thus the support of the veto-wielding Russia, but it also wants any resolution to contain the international community’s demand for a political transition in Syria, officials said.

“We want to see the Security Council speak in a unified and strong fashion in support of the Syrian people,” State Department spokesman Mark Toner told reporters in Washington Friday. He said the resolution must inform “the Syrian government that the violence needs to end and a political transition needs to take place.”

The week had started with widespread optimism that the Security Council was on the verge of passing something meaningful on Syria, aimed at quelling the country’s escalating violence. But by Thursday, Russian objections had stripped a Morocco-sponsored, Arab-backed resolution of two key elements: a call for Mr. Assad to step down to make way for a caretaker government and elections; and a ban on arms sales to any actor in the Syrian conflict.

Western diplomats said they were not happy to see the resolution “defanged” of two important provisions, as one said, but that getting a resolution with Russian support would still send a strong message to Assad.

On Friday, council delegates were reviewing with their home governments a revised resolution that no longer mentions Assad but which says instead that the council “fully supports” an Arab League initiative on Syria.

But that Arab League proposal would have Assad step down to pave the way for new leadership, so the new wording seems anything but assured of Russian support.

The draft resolution says the council “fully supports … the League of Arab States’ 22 January 2012 decision to facilitate a Syrian-led political transition to a democratic, plural political system … including through commencing a serious political dialogue between the Syrian government and the whole spectrum of the Syrian opposition.”

The resolution also condemns the Syrian government for failing to follow through on reform commitments it has made over the past year.

The Security Council has been unable to agree on any resolution on Syria since the unrest began there nearly a year ago. The previous attempt at a resolution in October was vetoed by Russia, which said it feared that supporters would use a successful resolution as a pretext for the same kind of “regime change” action that Western powers had employed in helping Libyans bring down the regime of Muammar Qaddafi.

Secretary Clinton is likely to appeal to Russia’s interest in maintaining relations with the broader Arab world when she meets with Mr. Lavrov to discuss Syria, some diplomatic experts say. They note that Russia has already said it wants to find a way to support a resolution on Syria, and they add that Russia would be particularly loath to veto an Arab-sponsored text.

The perspective of Russia, which maintains close ties with Assad and continues to sell arms to him, is that any resolution should condemn all parties responsible for the country’s violence, and that what is an internal conflict should be resolved without outside intervention.

But the question remains, what value will a resolution that has no teeth have in quelling Syria’s violence, which human rights organizations now say has claimed 7,000 lives? The revised text still calls for a “Syrian-led political transition,” but some analysts said that was probably vague enough for Assad to live with.

Assad ignored and ultimately drove off (through a studied lack of cooperation) the Arab League’s recent observer mission, some regional analysts note. They add that he is likely to do the same with a verbal condemnation from the Security Council.

Haytham Khoury, you calling me a Nazi, but it is clear that your account is either hacked, or someone writing in your name, because this is not your style of writing.
otherwise, i am considering that you

I am not sure who is the moderator at the current time but it is clear that what I wrote to Haythem Khoury was not a personal attack and it is nothing equals of him calling me a Nazi, sorry moderator you blew that one up.
i told him that he lost it because of the russian blow to his people there is nothing insulting or even attacking him.

pp2 Recalling General Assembly resolution A/RES/66/176 of 19 December 2011, as well as Human Rights Council resolutions S/16-1, S/17-1 and S/18-1,

pp3 Noting the League of Arab States’ request in its decision of 22 January 2012,

pp4 Expressing grave concern at the deterioration of the situation in Syria, and profound concern at the death of thousands of people and calling for an immediate end to all violence,

pp5 Welcoming the League of Arab States’ Action Plan of 2 November 2011 and its subsequent decisions, including its decision of 22 January 2012, which aims to achieve a peaceful resolution of the crisis,

pp6 Noting the deployment of the League of Arab States’ observer mission, commending its efforts, regretting that, due to the escalation in violence, the observer mission was not in a position to monitor the full implementation of the League of Arab States’ Action Plan of 2 November 2011, and noting the subsequent decision of the League of Arab states to suspend the mission,

pp7 Underscoring the importance of ensuring the voluntary return of refugees and internally displaced persons to their homes in safety and with dignity,

pp8 Mindful that stability in Syria is key to peace and stability in the region,

pp9 Noting the announced commitments by the Syrian authorities to reform, and regretting the lack of progress in implementation,

pp10 Reaffirming its strong commitment to the sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity of Syria, emphasizing its intention to resolve the current political crisis in Syria peacefully, and noting that nothing in this resolution authorizes measures under Article 42 of the Charter,

pp11 Welcoming the engagement of the Secretary-General and all diplomatic efforts aimed at addressing the situation, and noting in this regard the offer of the Russian Federation to host a meeting in Moscow, in consultation with the League of Arab States,

1. Condemns the continued widespread and gross violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms by the Syrian authorities, such as the use of force against civilians, arbitrary executions, killing and persecution of protestors and members of the media, arbitrary detention, enforced disappearances, interference with access to medical treatment, torture, sexual violence, and ill-treatment, including against children;

2. Demands that the Syrian government immediately put an end to all human rights violations and attacks against those exercising their rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association, protect its population, fully comply with its obligations under applicable international law and fully implement the Human Rights Council resolutions S-16/1, S-17/1, S-18/1 and the General Assembly resolution A/RES/66/176;

3. Condemns all violence, irrespective of where it comes from, and in this regard demands that all parties in Syria, including armed groups, immediately stop all violence or reprisals, including attacks against State institutions, in accordance with the League of Arab States’ initiative;

4. Recalls that all those responsible for human rights violations, including acts of violence, must be held accountable;

5. Demands that the Syrian government, in accordance with the Plan of Action of the League of Arab States of 2 November 2011 and its decision of 22 January 2012, without delay:

(a) cease all violence and protect its population;

(b) release all persons detained arbitrarily due to the recent incidents;

(c) withdraw all Syrian military and armed forces from cities and towns, and return them to their original home barracks;

(d) guarantee the freedom of peaceful demonstrations;

(e) allow full and unhindered access and movement for all relevant League of Arab States’ institutions and Arab and international media in all parts of Syria to determine the truth about the situation on the ground and monitor the incidents taking place; and

(f) allow full and unhindered access to the League of Arab States’ observer mission;

6. Calls for an inclusive Syrian-led political process conducted in an environment free from violence, fear, intimidation and extremism, and aimed at effectively addressing the legitimate aspirations and concerns of Syria’s people, without prejudging the outcome;

7. Fully supports in this regard the League of Arab States’ 22 January 2012 decision to facilitate a Syrian-led political transition to a democratic, plural political system, in which citizens are equal regardless of their affiliations or ethnicities or beliefs, including through commencing a serious political dialogue between the Syrian government and the whole spectrum of the Syrian opposition under the League of Arab States’ auspices, in accordance with the timetable set out by the League of Arab States;

8. Encourages the League of Arab States to continue its efforts in cooperation with all Syrian stakeholders;

9. Calls upon the Syrian authorities, in the event of a resumption of the observer mission, to cooperate fully with the League of Arab States’ observer mission, in accordance with the League of Arabs States’ Protocol of 19 December 2011, including through granting full and unhindered access and freedom of movement to the observers, facilitating the entry of technical equipment necessary for the mission, guaranteeing the mission’s right to interview, freely or in private, any individual and guaranteeing also not to punish, harass, or retaliate against, any person who has cooperated with the mission;

10. Stresses the need for all to provide all necessary assistance to the mission in accordance with the League of Arab States’ Protocol of 19 December 2011 and its decision of 22 January 2012;

11. Demands that the Syrian authorities cooperate fully with the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and with the Commission of Inquiry dispatched by the Human Rights Council, including by granting it full and unimpeded access to the country;

12. Calls upon the Syrian authorities to allow safe and unhindered access for humanitarian assistance in order to ensure the delivery of humanitarian aid to persons in need of assistance;

13. Welcomes the Secretary-General’s efforts to provide support to the League of Arab States, including its observer mission, in promoting a peaceful solution to the Syrian crisis;

14. Requests the Secretary General to report on the implementation of this resolution, in consultation with the League of Arab States, within 21 days after its adoption and to report every 30 days thereafter;

15. Decides to review implementation of this resolution within 21 days and, in the event of non-compliance, to consider further measures;

Dear Haytham
You (Edited)
The truth about what’s happening in Homs is just unfolding now and it seems that the terrorists themselves commit this massacre.
HNN| شـبكة أخـبار حمص
عــــــــــــــــــــــاااجل :

Besides, are you that happy that the Syrian embassies are getting burned to be so excited about it? This kind of vandalism is wrong and those people who commit such action will be held responsible in their respected countries.

UNITED NATIONS, February 3 — Amid confusion about when and even if the UN Security Council would meet on Saturday about its ostensibly final Syria draft resolution, between 7 and 8 pm on Friday diplomats from four delegations ran into the Council, and finally left at 8:35 pm. Inner City Press asked them questions.

One delegation, non-Permanent, told Inner City Press, “You know the Russians have already submitted amendments… The meeting will start at 10 am but it will be closed consultations. Any member can put a stop to moving to a vote. Hillary Clinton is supposed to meet with Lavrov at 2:30 pm, their time.”

Just in time for the drama in the Security Council in New York.

Earlier, after the UN Spokesperson’s Office had squawked at 9 am Saturday Council meeting, then said to disregard, then closed down for the night, a representative of February’s Togolese presidency of the Council first told Inner City Press, the meeting would start at 9 am.

Then another said, the Russians have asked for 11 am. Finally a Permament member told Inner City Press, and the others nodded in agreement, 10 am. To coincide with the Clinton – Lavrov meeting?

The draft put in blue Thursday night (and put online by Inner City Press early on Friday, just after midnight) calls for a process without prejudging the outcome.

But it still “fully supports” the Arab League plan, which calls for Assad to delegate power to his deputy. Now, there are amendments proposed.

So they claimed the syrian army shelled khalidiyeh which led to the murder of the civilians they showed “with their hands and feet tied”. Its become so obvious now, that the battle in syria is between the educated and the uneducated. These civilians were kidnapped by the terrorist in homs and they didnt have any brains to remove the straps from their hands and feet before filming

DAMASCUS, Feb. 3 (Xinhua) — As the UN Security Council still seems divided over finding an appropriate approach to end the simmering tension in Syria, opponents and proponents in the unrest- torn country appear to be united over rejecting any form of changing the regime of President Bashar al-Assad by force, considering that it would be “disastrous.”

Assad has recently warned that any foreign intervention in his country would lead to a “temblor in the region.”

George Gabbour, a political analyst, believed that the Syrians reject the use of force to topple the regime in their country, because “the use of military power would be disastrous and it doesn’t commensurate with the interests of a large segment of the Syrian people, especially that there are other segments, which support the president’s reforms and don’t want him overthrown.”

Toppling the regime by force is “a violation to the United Nations’ charter and the principles of international law,” he told Xinhua by phone.

On the opposition side, Hasan Abdul-Azim, head of the opposing National Coordination Body, voiced rejection to the concept of using force to change the Assad regime, pointing that “such intervention would pose dangerous repercussions on the Syrian and regional arena as well.”

During a phone call with Xinhua, Azim criticized the regime’s approach in handling the crisis, saying “no regime can resist the ambitions and aspirations of its people, especially as the region is witnessing major changes … and the Syrian regime can’t be an exception in this context.”

He expressed optimism that change “will occur in Syria, not by military force but through peaceful demonstrations, sit-ins and civil disobedience.”

Political activist Izz al-Din Abboud told Xinhua that “the change in Syria is inevitable but not through military force as in Libya because that would only complicate the situation even more.”

Abboud, who is from the Druze minority, expressed astonishment over the Syrian minorities’ fears of regime change, accusing the regime of “implanting such fears among the minorities” to preserve their support.

Faroq Hajji, another political activist, said that any use of military force to topple Assad’s regime would lead to ” deterioration of the situation in Syria and more shed of the Syrian blood.”

In a phone call with Xinhua, Hajji criticized protests that turned into unrest, stressing that “they should remain peaceful as it started.”

“The geopolitical site of Syria is exceptional as it’s close to Israel, Lebanon, Iraq and Turkey, as well as its allies with Iran and the Lebanese Hezbollah,” Hajji said, adding that “any use of force amid this complicated political landscape would rebound negatively on the regional situation.”

As for the West’s interests in the region, Hajji said ” globalization has dedicated a new logic in international relations, and therefore, the Western countries are looking to make the Middle East an area of their influence.”

The UN Security council convened Tuesday in presence of foreign ministers of the United States, Russia, China and the Arab League (AL) chief Nabil al-Arabi, to discuss the AL’s recent plan calling on Syrian President Assad to step down, as well as to pass a resolution condemning violence in Syria.

The council members failed to reach an agreement on the issue and met again behind closed doors on Wednesday afternoon to discuss the draft resolution on Syria.

On Friday, UN Security Council failed to reach an agreement over the resolution on Syria because of Russia’s opposition to the clause hinting on the possible regime change in Damascus.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry said Friday that Russia would not support the updated version of the West-Arab draft resolution on Syria as it still fails to take into account Moscow’s principal considerations.

“We have received the text (of the revised draft). Although some of our concerns have been considered, nevertheless, this is not enough for us to support it,” Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennadi Gatilov was quoted by Interfax news agency as saying.

The draft was officially published in a final version but no proposals about its voting have been made, the diplomat added. He said no ballot in the United Nations was expected in the next few days and the consultations could be continued.

The Syrian leadership has accused the broad-based opposition of acting out a Western plot by calling for foreign intervention and smuggling in weapons and ammunition to militia groups inside the country. Those militia groups call themselves the “Free Syrian Army,” who launch attacks on government and military bases, citing the government’s crackdown on opposition protesters in the 10- month-old unrest.

Mouhamad,
The orders from qatar&co. to kill and spell Syrian blood was sudden, and the criminals didn’t have time to edit the footage of their ‘achievement’.

Moderator,
By editing my comment to Dr. Haytham for no reason you gave the impression that I was attacking him, I wasn’t at all, I was asking a friend of mine to try to stay away from the news for few minutes to feel better instead of loosing his temper.
That wasn’t professional of you at all. At least put some explanation instead of writing (edited).

Dear Haytham, what was edited doesn’t have any thing rude at all, I apologize on behalf of the moderator for giving you and the readers the wrong impression.

Another massacre in Homs today, reminding us with what Hafiz did in Hama in 1982,it is so much heart breaking,this regime is criminal, how can we forgive those who are committing such crimes, freedom is so prescious, the price is too high,this revolution says we would rather die,than to live in humilliation,Bashar must face the same fate as Gaddafi.

Haytham, I feel your pain, and appreciate your good personality, your good morality,crime has no religion, has no nationality,dictatorship is wicked,in this century,those criminal has no place on earth.

Those who are obfuscating the news, if you have a conscious, ,please stop doing that ,think of your families,they are dear to you, and those who died are dear to their families,.

This is the paragraph that has been changed to modify the sentence: “Fully supports the Arab League Plan” to
“support the decision of the Arab League…(with the date of the plan)”
There is a question mark: The inclusion of the date of 22 january 2012 which is the date the Arab League Plan was announced seems like a trick to imply that the ‘decision’ means the “plan”?

The details of what they mean by the ‘decision of the Arab League’ have to be clearly spelled out otherwise it is a carte blanche to the AL to implement a regime change.
If this is the resolution, the Russians will veto it, for sure, as they are no fools to be tricked like that.
”
7. Fully supports in this regard the League of Arab States’ 22
January 2012 decision to facilitate a Syrian-led political transition to a democratic, plural political system, in which citizens are equal regardless of their affiliations or ethnicities or beliefs, including through commencing a serious political dialogue between the Syrian government and the whole spectrum of the Syrian opposition under the League of Arab States’ auspices, in accordance with the timetable set out by the League of Arab States;”

Israel will not pull out of the next Middle East war until Hizbollah is annihilated
By Con Coughlin
8:37PM GMT 02 Feb 2012http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/israel/9057277/Israel-will-not-pull-out-of-the-next-Middle-East-war-until-Hizbollah-is-annihilated.html

It is the front line of Israel’s deepening conflict with Iran, and beneath the snow-capped peaks of Mount Hermon the final preparations are taking shape for a conflict that promises to change the landscape of the modern Middle East.
{…}

Anyone who call Haytham Khouri uneducated, and refer to him as corrupt, he is describing himself,Haytham is a noble man,there is no nobility in those who criticise Haytham , he is mad because Haytham telling us the news from Homs, shame on you.

[Edited for personal attack. This line of discussion is CLOSED. This user is banned for a week.

Do NOT use inflammatory language against other commenters.
Do NOT personalize disputes.

This is the last warning to those who attack other users with contemptuous and hateful remarks. The moderators do not have time to constantly monitor or edit remarks that are colored by contemptuous language]

Jad
The events in Homs coincides curiously with the debate at the UNSC where the opposition hopes that by increasing the death toll it will move the UNSC to take a stronger stand than the softened UNSC resolution put at vote saturday.
The media are more than happy to listen to horror stories and disseminate them to influence the countries voting.

We have seen that before. Always before a UN resolution vote, violence increases in the media while it is not sure what is really happening on the ground and who are the dead. armed rebels? soldiers? civilians? Each group has its narrative. If the AL observers had not been withdrawn by the GCC and the AL maybe we would have known better. Now we are in the dark.

The language used by haytham is unacceptable even by his own admission, educated people must stay above the crowd when it comes to how they respond to disagreements, his apology is a sign that he regrets copying few fools on this blog.
There is a war in Homs and with that comes a barrage of lies and rumors seeping from both sides of the conflict, using aljazeera and alarabiya as a proof of the credibility of a story should make most of you suspicious especially when the news and the videos(including the one with dead people with their hands tied) pop us hours before a UNSC meeting. Homs is a killing field now, that is why the violence must stop.
Give me a plan that removes the regime thugs without destroying Syria and count me as a supporter, the only plan is the one that stops the killing and start the dialogue, trying to libyalize Syria is not a plan, it is suicide.

Ghufran, your Idole,Bashar is trying to end the revolution before the UN reach a resolution, he is foul, he does not realize that the revolution will never end till he is gone, your analysis is wrong, and frankly I do not think much of your opinion.

Russia’s foreign minister sternly warned Washington Saturday that any attempt to put a draft resolution on Syria to vote at the United Nations would lead to “scandal,” a blunt warning that Moscow is prepared to use its veto power.

Sergey Lavrov said in an interview broadcast on Russian state television Rossiya that Moscow had submitted its mendments to the Western-backed draft. He said that Russia hopes that “bias will not prevail over common sense.”

The Syrian embassies in Tunis,Greece,Cairo, must be closed and send the ambassadors back to Syria, the pictures from Homs are so horrible. Turkey must do something,the number of daily death has increased to over 250 a day, the regime media are lying,but they can not hide the truth ,
India will sign the resolution,
Tunis has already asked the Syrian ambassador to leave

Here’s a short clip about the ‘Imperial Airways’, a British company which during the twenties and thirties flew seaplanes in the route London- Tiberias, Sea of Galilee (lake Kinneret, in Hebrew)- to Baghdad.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cscbtskc8xk
.

I usually go over the sites that are pro regime like Manar or Doonia or SANA and Cham Press and then go over RT and then Haaretz and finally the satellite channels and a few other sites to gather two things: information and tone of information and discourse.

First, something terrible happened in Homs and the pictures of the funeral this morning show many corpses whether it is 260 or 45 it is not clear. How terrible is not clear. What action provoked this attack is also not clear.

Second, the Syrian regime has lost this information battle. The speed with which the information came out, the direct broadcasting of the pictures and the testimony of people on the ground to the satellite channels was very rapid.

Third the lack of outside press has come to play a bad joke on the regime as the local people can upload pictures and video immediately without interference and the tone of the story cannot be countermanded with official Syrian propaganda.

Fourth, this could not have come at a worse moment for the regime with these pictures embarrassing Russia and essentially neutralizing South Africa Brazil and India. If a veto is coming it will be a lone veto with majority in favor and perhaps a few abstentions.

Fifth, the SNC will go to the general assembly and with Syrian embassies being stormed around the world and pictures streaming out of Syria, the regime does not stand a chance.

Sixth, the expelling of Syrian ambassadors from Arab countries will gather pace and if the regime becomes a pariah in Arab circles it will have a difficult time relying on friendly countries like Venezuela and Cuba to help. Even Algeria will find it difficult to help.

Seventh, today’s big rally against Putin in Moscow is a harbinger of a difficult re election and a robust opposition that will limit the ability of Putin. He may play the nationalist card to the hilt by supporting Assad against ever more encroaching Western influence as he paints a Russia being surrounded by pro West regimes from Poland and Georgia and what have you.

Eighth, RT announced that Lavrov and the head of Russia’s secret service are going to Damascus on the 7th. I speculate, but I think that they are going to announce that they can no longer support his policies and he will have to change and work with the opposition on some form of transition. The question is how to do it without having the boy lose face and to assure the minorities of a safe post regime Syria.
It is also possible they may tell him to conduct the crushing of the revolt without allowing any reporting.

Now if I were the opposition I would compromise and offer an exploratory delegation to talk in Moscow or New Delhi to explore the ideas of the regime and the Russians on what they want without accepting anything or compromising the principle of resignation of the clan members.

If the regime is not offered some compromise to come out with some assurance that the retribution will not be a la Ghadafi then cracks will appear. If on the other hand there is a maximal demand of regime change, it will make the sect and the clan fight to the bitter end.

The regime may choose to fight to the bitter end as many dictators cannot fathom that they cannot be in power; as we see in the declaration of Rifaat Assad or Khadam. They talk as if they have still followers and credibility when we know that they are thugs and killers. Remember that Ghadafi and before him Causcecu and his wife were contemptuous of their captors to the very end; the last moment of their lives. This is what power does to the mind.

Tara,
This blog will be better off without people like SS,tlaas,majedkhal,snk,etc. There is nothing personal about my opinion,SC can not afford to be a dumping ground for people’s filth,I for example strongly disagree with posters like revlon but he,so far,kept the discussion clean and stayed away from personal attacks,and i always responded in the same manner.
People all over the world read and qoute this blog,those who can not keep their posts clean should find another venue to practice the art of verbal vandalism.it is depressing to see educated people lower their standards to meet thugs expectations.
I support the moderator in his effort to enforce the rules,and I am sorry I used harsh,but measured ,language with Haytham,I used to look at him as a sample of syria’s educated and moderate opposition,without moderation and common sense you and I will not have a country called Syria.

222. Hi Juergen,
Hope peaceful protests spread to include all Syrian embassies around the world to send the message that those who occupy them are accomplices to crimes against humanity and part of an outlawed, tyranical regime.

MUNICH – (AP) — Moscow still sees two problems of “crucial importance” with a draft U.N. resolution on the violence in Syria, Russia’s foreign minister said Saturday amid Western attempts to head off a Russian veto in the Security Council.

Sergey Lavrov said the resolution makes too few demands of armed groups opposing President Bashar Assad’s regime. He also said Moscow remains concerned about whether it prejudges the outcome of a national dialogue among political forces in Syria.

…

He added, however, that there were the two issues which “are of crucial importance and they must be modified if a resolution is to be adopted.”

He expressed concern about “an absolutely unrealistic provision expecting that the government of Syria would withdraw from the cities and towns exactly at the time when the armed groups are taking over the quarters of those cities and towns.”

The Russian position is sensible and I am hoping, but not expecting, that the anti-Assad countries will put aside their maximalist language for the sake of starting a non-violent transition to democracy in Syria. We will see.

Observer,
The Russians do not want to lose Syria and are not stuck on Assad but rather stuck with him,he failed to do his job and his regime is about to fall,Bashar is now a liability to his supporters and friends and his presence is helping to unite people and countries against the regime. For the sake of Syria,including minorities,he needs to leave.
The opposition must work with and not against Russia,they also need to talk to regime figures and army leaders who are willing to negotiate about a solution that protects the interest of a large section of the Syrian society.
Insisting on “everything or nothing” is a prescription for civil war,and time is running out.
A regime change is inevitable.

Story of massacre in Homs seems fabricated to blame Syrian army. Even western media is very cautious and reports it as claims by London based HRW and LCC. Possible gain for reporting massacre of people in this way seems to be UN council resolution.

An example from bloody European history: France was all for separation of religion and state before 1st World war, law was passed for this. But when ugly massacre of 1st World war dragged, they forgot the law, embraced religion again and they motivated citizens by religion (sermons, etc) to kill all evil, barbaric and Lutheran Germans. Germans killed children, raped woman, they reported. War had to be fought and won because “winning this war is a mean to end/stop all future wars”… Barely 20 years later, 2nd world war had started.

Exactly same propaganda is used by all sides than and now (Syria by all sides, Iran, many other cases). In this light, we should not be surprised that French media and politics do not report anymore about their journalist killed in Hama. It’s media value has expired when it was discovered he was apparently killed by wrong side.

I fully agree. Russia is fed up with Qatar and its friends who are trying to force into the throat of the UNSC their Arab League Plan which is nothing else then a Forced Regime Plan that goes against the Chart of the UN.
After the deflated ‘deja vu’ of the “nuclear threat” strategy , now the “human rights” is the the new strategy that some countries with their own agenda have been using to force disguised resolutions calling for regime changes, thus bypassing the UN chart rules.

Russia’s continuous objections on the UN resolution despite Qatar’s call for an immediate vote, coincides with the increase of violence in Syria, obviously supposed to create a ‘human rights’ urgency to force the UNSC to approve the crooked resolution.

Russia will probably threat the veto until the Arab Plan is trimmed to remove any forced regime change clauses and clearly spelled out in the resolution. Childishly playing on words and invoking the urgency of an agreement for the sake of stopping violence will not work anymore. For Russia it’s ‘deja vu’.

BEIRUT/MUNICH (Reuters) – Syrian forces killed more than 200 people in an assault on the city of Homs, activists said, the bloodiest day of an 11-month uprising giving sudden urgency to a push for a U.N. resolution calling for President Bashar al-Assad to cede power.

Just to be clear, the menhebak narrative is that the people who were killed in Homs last night were kidnapped soldiers and civilians. Does that mean that they will receive a state funeral like the victims of terrorism in Damascus?

The regime’s media said everything is calm in Homs, but there are terrorists. Some say the victims were all soldiers, some say they were all civilians, and others say it was a mix of both.

Anthony Shadid of the NYT reports evidence of provocation to violence in a concerted efforts of the opposition to pressure the UN vote.

“(In Homs), the barrage was apparently unleashed after defectors attacked two military checkpoints and kidnapped soldiers. ”
“The simultaneous attacks on Syrian embassies in Amman, Berlin, Cairo, Kuwait and elsewhere, he said, were evidence of a coordinated assault by Syria’s enemies.”

Death Toll Is Said to Rise in Syrian City of Homs
By ANTHONY SHADID
Published: February 4, 2012http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/05/world/middleeast/syria-homs-death-toll-said-to-rise.html
….
Accounts by activists, independently basing their information on what they described as contacts in Homs, said the barrage was apparently unleashed after defectors attacked two military checkpoints and kidnapped soldiers. One activist put the number of abducted soldiers at 13, another 19. They suggested that enraged commanders then ordered the assault, which lasted from about 9 p.m. Friday to 1 a.m. Saturday, focusing on the neighborhood of Khaldiya. Five other neighborhoods were also assaulted.

At one point, a resident said, people left the top floors of residential buildings, fearful that shelling they described as random would wreck their homes.

That stand drew the battle lines for a showdown between the Western powers and Russia in the Security Council just hours after allegations that between 217 and 260 civilians had been massacred by Syrian forces in the city of Homs.

Russia has refused to support a Western-Arab draft resolution that would condemn the Syrian government’s bloody crackdown on a 10-month old uprising and require President Bashar al-Assad to abide by an Arab League timetable for political reform, including his own resignation.

It is 9 a.m. in the morning in Harasta, one of the suburbs of Damascus, and there is loud banging at the door. It is only a few seconds until the door opens up and I face the dreaded Syrian security forces, whose atrocities I have been listening to, documenting and reporting on while I have been in Syria.

Harasta is only a 15-minute drive from Damascus’ city center and was in the hands of the Free Syrian Army militias in previous days. During the night of Jan. 25, heavy clashes between the Syrian regime and the free army lasted the whole night until the dawn when the sound of the muezzin’s voice calling the faithful for morning prayers blended with the continuing sound of Kalashnikovs shooting. Only when we saw the regime soldiers at the doorstep did we realize who had won the fight.

Mohammad Abood, 23, whom I met over the Internet and asked to stay at his house for a couple of days for reasons that have nothing to do with my undercover journalism, is now at the door, getting a heavy beating from the soldiers who trade turns insulting him. One shabiha, who appears to be the leader of the four-to-five squad of soldiers, is directing them to search the house, while giving other orders and questioning me at the same time.

The two-bedroom apartment is turned upside down by the soldiers, but for the time being, they seem undecided what to do with me, though they dutifully confiscated all my personal belongings, including my computer, camera, phone and whatever they deemed necessary into plastic bags. The belongings were never returned.

Now we are in the narrow streets of Harasta but not alone. Every corner has a few soldiers guarding the city as if they are an occupying army in a foreign land. A few other groups of arrested Harasta residents coming from the muddy, steep streets appear to share the same faith as we do. After a couple-minute walk to a larger road, I see a few other arrested groups joining us to be taken to one of the security complexes in the city, knowing that the worst yet to come.

In only 14 days, in a half-dozen suburbs of Damascus, I have seen the viciousness of the security forces every single day in different forms and shapes. I have witnessed unarmed protesters being attacked twice, one of which was a funeral crowd who were joyfully praising their “martyr” on Jan. 21 in the city of Douma. After I arrived in this city on Jan. 19 to leave the next night, my plans had to change because the Syrian Army would be laying siege in eastern Ghouta for the next four days.

In central Damascus, I saw individuals getting arrested in broad daylight for no apparent reason.
And finally I was arrested, along with over a thousand people in a single morning in Harasta, in which I witnessed scores of old and young locals receiving their first heavy whippings in the front yard of the Harasta Police Hospital. Surely what awaited them in the coming days and weeks will be the most horrifying.

I talked with a much respected local doctor who had been jailed twice and tortured since the Syrian revolution began just because he insisted on treating wounded protestors who came to his hospital.
Doctors are prohibited from carrying any kind of first-aid kit under this evil regime, and if found, even mere pain killers in their cars constitute a crime warranting arrest because it shows their intention of helping injured people in some other place.

The horror stories I have heard from scores of local people were beyond any imagination.

When Col. Moammar Gadhafi said he would do house-to-house raids to hunt down the rebels like rats, the international community moved immediately to stop the pending slaughter, invoking the much-discussed “right to protect” civilians in Libya.

The Syrian regime’s regular and irregular forces search houses every single day for months, one of which I was also victim of. The regime sends dozens of its tanks into the streets, hits the cities with mortar shells and terrifies its people day in, day out.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has announced an imminent visit to Syria to meet with President Bashar al-Assad.He broke the news while attending the Munich Security Conference.

Mr Lavrov, who will travel to Syria on Tuesday, emphasized that Russia does not intend to ask President Assad to step down as this does would contravene Russian foreign policy.

Russia has taken issue with the proposed draft resolution aimed at ending the violent uprisings that have wracked Syria for the past year. Lavrov cited the fact that the draft document makes too few demands on the armed rebels in the country.

Will Tunisia be the first country to recognize the SNC as “the representative of the Syrian people” ?

Tunisia to withdraw recognition of Syrian government

Tunisia has started preparations to withdraw recognition of the Syrian government under President Bashar al-Assad and to expell the Syrian ambassador. The announcement was made on the Tunisian President’s Facebook page, which explained the move as “the only way to stop ongoing violence in the country.” Syria has been locked in an almost year-long violent battle between pro- and anti-government factions which is estimated to have cost more than 5,000 lives and is the focus of international concern.

Daniel Treisman,Professor of political sciences at UCLA
Counting pennies while protesters are gunned down may seem cynical. “How many people need to die before the consciences of world capitals are stirred?” Britain’s Foreign Secretary William Hague demanded on January 31, clearly thinking of Moscow.

But Russian policymakers have developed an allergy to Western leaders’ moralizing. Just as it was pressing al-Assad to resign, the U.S. State Department quietly lifted a ban on military aid to the Karimov dictatorship in Uzbekistan, which had butchered its own protesters a few years earlier. (Uzbekistan is important for supply lines to NATO troops in Afghanistan.) Neither did Washington press the king of Bahrain — where the U.S. Navy has a port — to step down after he crushed popular demonstrations in his capital.

From Washington, the West’s recent interventions in the Middle East seem unplanned and responsive, with modest goals. From Moscow, it is easy to see a pattern in the repeated use of force to overthrow leaders — from Afghanistan and Iraq to Libya — and diplomatic pressure to dislodge others — in Tunisia, Egypt and Yemen. President George W. Bush may be gone, but his “Freedom Agenda,” it sometimes seems, lives on.

Libya is a particularly sore point. Russia’s leaders felt they were tricked into supporting a resolution to protect civilians only to see it used to provide cover for airstrikes to overthrow Moammar Gadhafi. Vague phrases like “further measures” now set off alarm bells.

Beyond commercial and strategic interests, the Kremlin’s greatest fear is of instability in the Middle East and Central Asia. Russian policymakers already worry about the northward spread of Islamic militancy and opium if the departure of NATO from Afghanistan leads to Taliban resurgence and state collapse.

Rather than a fairytale struggle between the people and a dictator, they see a potentially explosive religious conflict between Syria’s ruling Alawis (close to Shi’a Islam) and majority Sunnis. The zeal with which rulers of the Gulf states and some in Washington call for al-Assad’s ouster seems part of a broader project to isolate Iran, Syria’s ally.
Still, unless al-Assad manages to decisively defeat his opposition in short order, the Russians are likely to soften their position — not because of moral arguments, but simply because they do not want to end up on the losing side. If they alienate al-Assad’s successors, the very interests they seek to protect could be in jeopardy. Russian Foreign Secretary Sergei Lavrov hinted at a shift on January 31, saying: “We are not friends or allies of President Assad.”

It looks like a Russian-Chinese veto is looming and may enflamme further the region.

“We have the text on the table. We’ve made considerable efforts to go to the Russia. No it’s over. This text is simple: We suport the arab league peace plan, nothing more, nothing less. We are not going to move from that. we vote today.”

A Russian veto is preferrable to toothless resolution that does not call for Bashar removal. A Russian veto at this time would in my opinion set the stage up to sideline Russia and would prompt the AL, the US and the EU to act together to support the revolution goal of toppling Bashar

They should act they should give the Syrian army the same rights that the American army had in Iraq to stop that civil war, no negotiation with armed militant, let the Syria army that stopped the civil war in Lebanon do that in Syria without restrictions.

And force the Syrian government on a time table for reform or else.That is the only way.

Reform and multi party system with no set aside for any party or any religion, I am sick of all what is going on aren’t you all, and yes the president should run in 2014.

كلمة الشيخ إسماعيل المجذوب في مجزرة الخالدية
04 02 2012
Funeral sermon by Sheikh Ismail majzoub for the souls of victims of Khalidya massacre perpetrated by outlawed Assad forces.http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Lz6QpKijfDo
…….
We do not count on UN to support us!
We do not count on the criminals of the world to support us!
We only count on mighty God to bestow serentity onto our hearts and happiness into our souls through a quick resounding victory…………..

The voting that counts has taken place on the ground in Syria, in the funerals processions and sermons of the victims of Khalidya and other massacres around the country that have been perpetrated by the outlawed Assad forces.

The vote has been unanimous:
Yes to defend God given people’s freedom
Yes to self-reliance and prayer to God for support
Yes to the dismantling of the regime, with all of its elements, including All of Assad-Makhloof clan and their killing and torture machine; Outlawed Assad army and intelligence systems.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will meet with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad next week, the ministry said before a United Nations Security Council vote on a resolution on Syria opposed by Russia.

Lavrov will be accompanied on the Feb. 7 visit to Damascus by Mikhail Fradkov, the head of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service, the ministry said in a statement on its website.

The 15-member security council is scheduled to meet at 10 a.m. in New York to vote on a draft resolution proposed by Western and Arab countries aimed at ensuring a political transition in Syria. Al Jazeera reported that shelling by security forces in the Syrian city of Homs killed at least 200.

Almost a year after the uprising against Assad began, the threat is looming of a Russian veto that could prolong a conflict in Russia’s Mideast ally that the UN says has killed more than 5,400 people and is evolving into a civil war.

France condemned the Homs attack as “a crime against humanity” and said any country delaying passage of the resolution would carry “a great historical responsibility.”

The resolution backing an Arab League plan to end the bloodshed in Syria isn’t “hopeless” and may win Russian backing if changes are made, Lavrov said at a security conference in Munich today before talks with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Not ‘Hopeless’

“We are not saying this resolution is hopeless,” Lavrov said at the annual security conference. The text has to be altered in order to address violence perpetuated by armed groups outside government control as well as remove ambiguities concerning the Arab League’s timeline for peace, according to the Russian minister.

While Lavrov made clear that Russia was prepared to veto the resolution, he left open the possibility of finding a compromise.

The resolution’s “condemnation of the government is accompanied by much briefer condemnation of the armed groups,” Lavrov said. The language means that the Security Council risks “taking sides in a civil war,” he said, while adding that Russia doesn’t consider itself a “friend or ally” of the Syrian president.

Arab League Support

At stake at the UN is how much support to give the Arab League, which imposed economic sanctions on the regime and has called on Assad to step aside.

“We are witnessing a genocide in Homs,” Al Jazeera cited Abu Jaffar, from the city’s Al Khaldiya neighborhood, as saying. “More than 300 mortar shells fell on Homs, most of them in Al Khaldiya.”

The Syrian authorities are attacking because “they think they won’t have time to kill and use violence if the Security Council votes,” Burhan Ghalioun, president of the main opposition coalition, the Syrian National Council, said in an interview yesterday with Al Jazeera from Paris. Syrian forces killed 15 people outside Damascus today, Al Arabiya reported.

Tunisia expelled Syria’s ambassador because of escalating violence against civilians, Tunisian Foreign Minister Rafiq Abdel Salam said in an interview today with Al Jazeera. Five people were arrested in London after activists broke into the Syrian Embassy, the Press Association reported, citing the Metropolitan Police.

Working With China

Russia and China blocked a Security Council resolution in October, when Western powers sought to hold the Syrian president responsible for violence.

Russia is working closely with China on ensuring a “balanced” UN security council resolution on Syria, the Russian foreign ministry said today.

Lavrov spoke by phone today with his Chinese counterpart Yang Jiechi to discuss their efforts to amend the Arab-western draft resolution in order to “open the way for a political resolution of the Syrian crisis,” the ministry said in a statement on its website.

In a final effort to win Russian acceptance, Arab and European Union negotiators made concessions in response to objections that the proposal endorsed regime change.

The new draft says there should be no “prejudging the outcome” of the political process and “nothing in this resolution authorizes” military action, responding to Russian concern that last March’s UN authorization of all necessary measures to protect civilians was used to bring down Muammar Qaddafi’s regime.

‘Roller Coaster’

Arab and EU diplomats refused to barter on the degree of support to give for the Arab League plan, a sticking point in four days of negotiations that Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin described as “a roller coaster.”

Pakistan’s Ambassador Abdullah Haroon said on Feb. 2 that the council was “two words away” from agreement, referring to requests by Russia to substitute less stringent language for “fully supports” in regard to the Arab League.

A vote was scheduled without any shift in positions after a fresh round of meetings yesterday in New York failed to produce a new text.

“Some of our concerns and the concerns of those who share our view were taken into account but, nonetheless, that’s not enough for us to support it in its current form,” Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov told the Interfax news agency.

Qatar et al were not interested in a resolution that helps end the crisis,what they want is a regime change at any cost even if that means the destruction of Syria. By pushing the Russians to veto the resolution,which still had vague language the minute it was put to vote,they want to blackmail any opposition party and stop them from going to Russia,they want Doha,not Moscow, as the place where Syria’s future is determined. This also gives the regime a green light to try to end the armed struggle against it which will certainly lead to further loss of lives.
In the near term,more violence is expected and further political sanctions are likely to follow,but at the end of the day,this crisis can only be solved if fighting parties sit down and negotiate with the help of a mediator,Qatar does not want Russia to be that mediator but only the power balance on the ground will overcome Qatari veto. If the army succeeds in improving security in Homs and other troubled spots,negotiations will suddenly become “a good idea”,this is the Middle East where violence and force dictate the course of events.

I’m disgusted with my country’s (USA) failure to work with the Russians and Chinese at the UN Security Council. They are ushering in a Syrian civil war and now have the blood of Syrians on their hands.

Today marks the end of any potential peaceful resolution to the crisis in Syria. The next stage in the Syrian saga is going to be very very bloody. I expect the west to provide overt and clandstein material support to the resolution and I would not exclude a possible eventual NATO intervention. Russia rendered itself sidlined and isolated. War will be declared and the pain that so far was only felt by the revolutionists, will soon hit hard everyone else.

very weird, more arabs upset with the two Russian vetos than by the many americans ones to hold Israel accountable for all the crimes against humanity the Zionist country acts against arabs in the last 8 decades, it seems many arabs in supports of Israel continuing to kill arabs.

I hope the gruesome scene makes you feel better,revlon.
The video is disgusting,enjoy.
I still can not understand how people with Syrian blood celebrate the death of other Syrians,pity the nation.
.
.
Welcome to the muslim brothers world Gufran
.

#387 Ghufran
Qatar’s megalomania reminding of Bush’s is become more and more obvious.
Their ‘success ‘ is killing Qaddafi went to their head. They think that they can manipulate the UNSC with their media and their money.

Soon they will ask to be part of then G8 and permanent member of SC! If they don’t stop bullying Russia and China and Arab countries, they will loose the little credibility they have left.

“Qatar does not want Russia to be that mediator but only the power balance on the ground will overcome Qatari veto”

Sorry to disappoint sweety pie!
No it did not make me feel better.
It certainly would make the families whose members were humiliated, tortured and killed at his hands celebrate divine justice!

((I still can not understand how people with Syrian blood celebrate the death of other Syrians, pity the nation.))

Here the post that you referred to:
390. Revlon:
Abu Hadi, member of the Assad special security units made famous for leading the killings and scenes of humiliation against Albaida people has been ambushed and killed by a special FSA unit.

There is not a word of celebration in what I wrote; read it again, aloud this time!
I merely reported the incident.

As to what I would have liked to have happened is for the guy and his team was to be arrested, and detained for later proper investigation, and trial for the crimes that he committed against Syrians, whose blood you seem to selectively revere!

the world according to the west and the USA, that everyone has to listen, do what the west wants and be happy.
the USA is trying to outs Assad but still supporting many dictatorships all over the world, that doesn’t sound right to any smart with middle in the road vision.
you can’t oust Assad and support the Bahrain king or prince or what ever.
you can’t oust Assad and support dictatorships in Latin america, in middle Asia and elsewhere.
you can’t oust Assad and allow Israel to kill Palestinians on a daily basis, that’s not only double standard but also it is flowed. USA today received a serious blow to its foreign policy and even Hillary could not stop it with its genius teams.
Russia NO means NO what part of NO you don’t understand damn it.

Don’t underestimate the power of the media in the Arab world. The Arabs are easily manipulated by the biased and powerful channels that keep showing horrors videos pointing the blame on the ‘heretic’ Syrian regime for the violence.
Don’t worry, Arab public opinion is known to flip easily.
Look at Egypt: the army were the savior, now they are the demons.
Look at Libya: the TNC was the savior now they are the demons
Look at Hezbollah: There were the heroes, now they are the villain
Look at Bashar Al Assad: he was the most popular Arab leader, now he is a monster.

Soon the Arabs will also decry the islamists when they will see the worsening of their economical situation.
It is only a matter of time…

411. irritated:
((396. Hans
Don’t underestimate the power of the media in the Arab world. The Arabs are easily manipulated by the biased and powerful channels that keep showing horrors videos pointing the blame on the ‘heretic’ Syrian regime for the violence))

Which peoples of the world are your gold standard, that do not get easily biased by powerful media?

No, it isn’t. The NATO does not take orders from the UNSC. Did you forget?

The opposition has so far declined a military intervention by the NATO in Syria, however if more crimes against humanity are committed, the next step would be for the opposition to endorse NATO intervention fair and square.

To all of ones who calls me Nazi, or accuse me of being a German racist.
First of all I was never a pro Russian all my life, in fact I was the opposite, I have been all my life pro USA,until I seen with my eyes the double standards this adminstration has been medling in the middle east toward the benefit of Israel with the help of the retards GCC goat beards retards.
(calling them princes is an insult to myself because no prices on me).
As I said in the past, destroying Syria in the name of ousting Assad is like killing the patient before killing the cancer and we all agreed upon that.
or the other analogy is to use a chemo drug which causes a worse cancer than the first, we all know that one too.

Good point… but I think the Arabs are new to the kind of manipulative information that Al Jazeera has introduced in Arabic in the Arab world.
For example the way they often use unconfirmed violent videos while showing an interview is a very manipulative and disgusting technique. Their aim is to discredit the interviewee that they don’t like.
The western countries, while manipulated too by some channels, have the resources of more objective channels to counter, and they are able to distanciate themselves to a certain extent.
In addition, in the western countries they are strict regulations on what you can or cannot say or show. In the Arab world there aren’t. Graphic, bloody and revolting violence is forbidden in ALL western TV channels. Al Jazeera seems to find a sadistic joy of showing blood, horrifying wounds, dead bodies in a deliberate intent to incitate repulsion, revenge and more violence.

Yes, most people are fascinated by graphic violence and Al Jazeera’s management use the lowest human instincts to attract more audience and impose the political agenda of their owners.
I think it is an unhealthy channel hiding under a professional look.

419. Norman:
((Tara,
were you against the cleanup by the US army in Faluja, and resoring security in Iraq, aske no more from teh Syrian army))

Norman dear!
Your US-Iraq parallel that you seem to repeat every now an then is only relevent if you would:
1. Regard Assad army as an occupying force of Syria, which I do! Mind you, The “Syrian Army” has been attacking Syrian cities and towns, while US forces attacked Iraqi cities.
2. Approve of the American army human rights record in Fallujah and elsewhere in Iraq!

One must have the minimum human decency of refraining from the use of “clean up”, ” surgical strike” or other genocidal terms. Clean up when and should it happens may inflict one’s family and loved one down the line. Just remember that.

“As I said in the past, destroying Syria in the name of ousting Assad is like killing the patient before killing the cancer and we all agreed upon that.”

Assad has destroyed Syria. It was in a coma and slow death for all these years but now he is panicking out of control and finishing it off. He can only destroy it more because he does not have the capability to repair it.

Zabadani is in the hands of army mutineers and armed gangs that have no legitimacy, except the one they claim they have.
No country in the world has recognized the FSA, in the contrary they have rejected it. They are simply outlaws and as any outlaws in any country, they need to be stopped, fought and tried on martial tribunal.
Now, if they use the civilians as human shields, it is bound to be violent and complicated, but they have no right to occupy any piece of Syria and the Syrian army has all the duty and the legitimacy to cleanup all the illegal armed presence to ensure the security of all the citizens, not only the ones sympathetic to the outlaws.

While the Syrian army and its goverment are the only legitimate and recognized power by the UN, they are the only rulers and they should fight any unacceptable other armed presence in the country.

421. irritated:
#413 Revlon
((The western countries, while manipulated too by some channels, have the resources of more objective channels to counter, and they are able to distanciate themselves to a certain extent.))

I have been around the globe, and I would argue the opposite!

People of the Middle East have a healthier and more balanced access to news of the world than anywhere on the globe!

Public opinion in the US and Canada is largely formed by a handful of giant media corporations; never mind the plethora of more objective resources that most people have neither the interest in nor the time to follow!

Media coverage in EU is far more diverse when it comes to covering local news, but again the world is seen mainly through western eyes

People in the Middle east have for a long time had access to VOA, BBC, Isreali radio, France media and German media that show them how others see them.

Al Jazeera news channel has transformed the landscape of news coverage not only at a regional level but around the world.
Now other people around the world can see themselves in the eyes of the Arabs!

I keep hearing about Homs being under seige and continuous bombing but aljazeera has been airing live demos in Homs until 30 minutes ago,aljazeera is also now planning on connecting with a rep for the revolution from Homs.I complained from the lack of foreign press and then I did not like stopping the AL mission,
the truth seems to be an inconvenient nuance to both sides.

I know how busy you are!
let me clarify that!
Here is what it means:
The statement that the Armed forces are solidly behind Assad is a fallacy; ranks and files and officers have been trickling out since AlQash3ami of the Republican Guard leaving behind hitherto concealed cracks and joining and cementing the ranks of FSA.

I have been a welcomer and fan of Al Jazeera’s professionalism when it started but it gradually became the mouth piece of a megalomaniac country with a very dubious agenda and with an open incitation to violence under the pretext of attaining democracy in the Arab countries, when the owner of the channel is part of an authoritarian family managing his tiny emirate.
While Fox news and Al Arabya agenda is clear, one wonders what is the real agenda of Al Jazeera.

The dead prepared for burial in Homs. I suppose we will hear from the usual that these photos are fakes. It is a tragedy beyond bearing for both the killed and those who felt they had to kill them, they are all Syrians.

One must have the minimum human decency of refraining from the use of “clean up”, ” surgical strike” or other genocidal terms. Clean up when and should it happens may inflict one’s family and loved one down the line. Just remember that.

Tara, sorry, but when my wife cleans the house she does not destroy the furniture, but when the dog start destroying the furniture we put the dog in his cage,

That is what the Syrian army needs to do clean up Syria and put the dogs that are destroying Syria in the cage,

Revlon, The Syrian army responsibility is to restore peace and security to the Syrian people and as you see if you can admit that almost all the trouble in Homs,Hama,Damascus suburb and Idlib, the rest of Syria is calm so either the rest of Syria does not want reform and change or there are no militants in these other areas.

Zabadani is in the hands of army mutineers and armed gangs that have no legitimacy, except the one they claim they have.
No country in the world has recognized the FSA, in the contrary they have rejected it. They are simply outlaws and as any outlaws in any country, they need to be stopped, fought and tried on martial tribunal.))

Legitimacy of any government is granted by its people.
Recognition by other governments and UN follows, and is founded in the former.

Legitimacy of the current Syrian Regime and its armed forces has been declared null by the rising Syrian people.
Its Legitimacy in th eyes of public of the region and the world has practically ceased.

Pronoucing that illegitmacy at the level of the SC has faild due to East-West power struggle, and has nothing to do with the just cayse of the tyranical regime!

RE: “…I have been all my life pro USA, until I saw with my own eyes the double standard this adminstration has been meddling in the middle east to the benefit of Israel…”

[Edited for personal attack]

The USA has been “meddling” in the Middle East for decades and has supported Israel since 1948. So suddenly [Edited for personal attack] Hans wakes up from a golden slumber, looks around and say, “Wait a minute! I was duped!”

No Hans, it’s not that way. Face it, you [Edited for personal attack]

[WARNING. This account will be banned for two weeks if it persists in using personally-denigrating remarks against other commentators]

431. Norman:
((Revlon, The Syrian army responsibility is to restore peace and security to the Syrian people and as you see if you can admit that almost all the trouble in Homs,Hama,Damascus suburb and Idlib, the rest of Syria is cal))
Norman,
Your list of restive areas is incomplete!
All Syrian cities and towns have witnessed demonstrations and arrest, torture, and murders by regime forces, albeit to variable extent.

((so either the rest of Syria does not want reform and change or there are no militants in these other areas.))

We will never know what Syrians really want until fair general elections are held and supervised by UN observers!

As to the prospects of Assad-Makhloof clan and his military and security entourage, they would have to be subjected to independant refereed trial for crimes against humanity, along with any people from the opposite camp whom they accuse of committing similar crimes.

Several comments are under moderation today. We urge commentators here to avoid using provocative language such as ‘cleansing,’ or ‘clean up.’ We also ask commentators to avoid reacting to provocative posts by those who are under warning. Under warning are Irritated and Hans. Please observe the Rules established by Professor Landis, and help keep discussion civil and productive.

We urge commentators to avoid accusing others directly or by implication as Nazis or criminals or terrorists, and to avoid using national stereotypes to demean and denigrate.

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revoln,
it is a stretch to say that the syrian people have decided that the syrian army’s legitimacy is “null”,when violence stops,emotions will calm down and hate will take a break.

I heard Ziadeh on aljazeera,I never liked his writings but after I heard his voice I would like to beg him to please just write and not talk,I respect his “right to write”.

finally,this is Joshua on Alsharaa:
“Shara is the Sunni face of this Alawite family values regime,” said Joshua M. Landis, director of the Center for Middle East Studies at the University of Oklahoma. “Shara is a throwback to the old system. He’s cynical in that he has understood how the power is played.”
Although Mr. Landis, like others, expressed strong doubts that Mr. Assad would willingly relinquish power, he did not rule out the possibility that Mr. Shara could be an important part of Syria’s future.
“Should we get to the point where Assad is ready to leave the country, it could keep the country from falling into leaderlessness,” he said. “It’s like the Yemeni thing: you want to preserve the veneer of constitutional legality, because you don’t know how the opposition is going to play out.”

If anybody thinks that Al Shara will be accepted on the long run are dreaming, the goal is to destroy the secular nature of Syria and the Baath party, after AL Shara they will say that he is not implementing the AL Resolution and with Assad gone the GCC supported opposition will take over disband the army and ban the Baath party, I am glad that Russia and china are alert to the plot,

Antoine,

Most deaths are in the above cities and Dara, there are demonstrations but no militants like in the above areas.

What the AL and the West do after the double veto will give us a hint if they are actually looking for a solution or not. The army will be asked to restore order in the next few weeks and if that fails and no political initiative sees the light,them we may see an actual partition of Syria this year even if Assad remains president on paper. I was told that there is a recognition now that the SNC will practically dissolve due to deep divisions among its members and its failure to swallow the NCB,the unwillingness to embrace minorities and the urge to score a military victory (a Syrian Benghazi) which is now the focus of Shiqfeh and his friends. Qatar will use the Russian veto to say that Russia can not mediate and that only a military intervention can end this crisis. The only thing that can delay or prevent a national disaster is a sudden shift in the balance of power or a regional war if Iran is attacked by Israel. Anything that comes from Bashar will be rejected by the opposition which insists on him leaving his office as a prerequisite for any dialogue. What will determine the course of events is,unfortunately , force not speeches and press conferences. Tuesday is when the picture may start to form,will Russia manage to strike a coup? I am not sure.

OTW has put on this video. Its one of those videos one will not forget. Women digging the grave for a 8 year old child killed in yesterdays massacre. Men werent allowed to go to the cemetary. How much pain lies within every victims fate, its quite unbearable and i wonder what has become out of my beloved Syria.
I was a soldier in Bosnia, 5 years after the war i experienced the hate and the visible sings of hate and despair. I remember visiting an old couple living with 4 other neighbors on a hilltop near Srebreniza. Their house was almost in ruins, but those 2 were desperatly rebuilding it. The men told me that the army came up the hill just to destroy his house, as he is the only muslim among his neighbors. His son was arrested and he never saw him again. Some say that men in war will always act like animals, i think not even animals act so deliberatly evil.

“Legitimacy of the current Syrian Regime and its armed forces has been declared null by the rising Syrian people.”

Until you prove me that the ‘rising syrians’ represent the majority of the Syrians, their declaration is null and void.
The current government and its armed forces remain responsible for the country whether you like it or not.

For what we have seen in 11 months, despite your thousands of horrors and defections videos, the proof is far from made.

GHUFRAN, if you don’t mind, I personally find your style quite distasteful , especially your quoting news against “certain” countries like Turkey, Qatar, KSA, with the intention of demeaning and point-scoring, firstly, what is the relevance of those posts, secondly, why do you post them ?

I suspect your intention is to highlight the hypocrisy of those countries and their low credibilty, thats fine and dandy, but my point is WHAT IS THE RELEVANCE OF SUCH ARTICLES IN A DISCUSSION ON SYRIA ? I have been following your mostly well-balanced posts for quite some time, and I have consistently seen this disturning trend in your posts.

I don’t mind the content of those anti-Qatar or anti-Turkey or anti-Wahhabi articles, but I ask you again, how is that relevant to the discussion (unless you want to show that it is not Bashar alone who commits crimes) – in which case, if such an intention on your part is true, it is a serious case of short-sightedness and lack of feeling, given the immense tragedy Syrians are facing every day, and by your own admission, a major part of those who are suffering are anti-regime.

I would be very grateful if you took the pain and time to answer this, Ghufran.

The solution should be two legs, now that Syria and president Assad do not look weak and on the run , they need to give the Russians and the Chinese who said that Syria wants reform a face saving measure and that is to cancel article 8 and 3 , put the constitution out and call for referendum on it , set time for the elections and announce that president Assad will not run in 2014 but will see that the elections are free and fair with international monitors,only political / Reform,in adition to a security track will save Syria, otherwise we will have what we have had in the last year.

Antoine,
Feel free to think whatever you want of my posts,some of which may not necessarily be relevant to Syria’s crisis to you and other people. Syria is now the center of a regional and international geopolitical dance. By pointing to the hypocrisy of Qatar and other freedom and democracy champions,I am trying to inform not to impress,sometimes I do a good job,and often I do not. Speaking about islamists is quite relevant to Syria’s situation also since the country is likely to live with them,or under them,for years to come.
Relax and keep posting,I will not question why you post.

Whatever happens in the future, the syrian people revolution against Assad criminal dictatorship has gain a golden place in all history book and encyplopaedias. No matter what Assad does, everything is exposed by now. All the people in the globe is looking atonished what is happening in Syria and in the UN Un-security Council.

Rice statements were very suitable and clear. It is UNFORGIVABLE. Syrian people will never forget nor forgive China and Russia role in the crisis. Probably arab people will be very carefull in the future since US has proved to be more sensible about arab people lives than oriental tyrannies.

We can expect a campaign against Russian interests in Syria and outside Syria. The russian mafia is being exposed even by its own people.

Why do you mention Syria and President Assad in the same line ? “Now that Syria and President Assad are”…..are they inseparable from each other, for some reason ? I’m curious.

Btw what made you think that he doesn’t look weak ? The reality is he hasn’t looked weaker in the last 11 years, infact he hasn’t looked strong since October. The FSA is growing in size and strength everyday and a few days ago they managed to capture several regime checkpoints in Homs and Rastan and also managed to capture several Armpured vehicles. Currently, the FSA in Homs are using an armoured vehicle in combat. We all saw how many Tanks were destroyed in Rastan. All these Army offensives have proved time and again to be failures, we have sen this so many times since July, the Army goes in with full force, the FSA and tansiqyat retreat and go underground, after a time the Army has to leave and eventually the FSA are able to freely operate again. To this day, there hasn’t been a single significant Army victory against the FSA.

In Jabal Zawiyah villages in Idleb the Army killed about 100 FSA fighters, yet a few weeks later the FSA were back in action in those villages and currently those villages are again in the hands of the FSA and are seeing daily demonstrations and attacks against the Army, infact in the last few weeks many Army men were killed by the FSA in that region. In Rastan the Army went full force in October, decaled victory, and what is theur position there now ?

You guys cannot keep on thinking in the same old, Baathi metality as if this was the 1970s and 1980s, wake up man, this is 2012, only way for you guys to “win” this thing will be to launch all-out massacre in Homs, Hama, Idleb, Daraa, Reef Damascus, atleast 100,000 to 200,000 civilans will be killed and many from your side will be killed as well. There can and will be ethnic cleansing against Alawites and unfortunately even Christians might end up losing much more. Please don’t destroy Syria and tell your leader to LEAVE. We wabt to go back to before 1963, Syria was a civilzed country back then.

One day you will swallow your words. Time is on our side. Assad may kill 40.000 people as it is planned in the next days or weeks but he and you have lost the war. The righteous people of Syria has already won it.

I speak my mind too, but to be honest , I felt your last comment about Turkey, with a parting shot about the Kurds, was like a cheap shot at best. There was no need to bring up a statement from Davutoglu, and even lesser need for a parting comment about Kurds, especially since I hope you are aware, that in the Syrian Arab Republic, Kurds and “Arabs” ; as well as Assyrians and “Arabs” ; or even Armenians and “Arabs” for that matter, do not have an equal status, and that is officially enshrined in the Constitution

I do not accuse you of anything, but frankly, i find your numerous parting shots about women rights in KSA, labour rights in Qatar, Kurdish rights in Turkey, to be like cheap shots with no relevance at best, and malicious intent at worst.

I would like to continue to engage with you, and would like you to respond, in a calm manner ofcourse.

I actually have to agree with Antoine on the issue of using force but that theory is too late to test now,every time the army and security forces leave,troubles start and new attacks are launched. The mistake was the failure to understand that what worked in 1982 will not work today. The regime may finally be willing to change under pressure but it is probably too little too late,the phenomenon of armed rebellion is all over Syria and the departure of Assad is not enough to stop it.the time to play politics was 9 months ago not now,this does not mean that we should not try,but I am skeptical,I think one party has to dominate,then it is up to the west to pressure the victor to implement reform and provide elections,without outside pressure,no Syrian regime will agree to share,welcome to the middle east.

Syria truly needs a democracy where the president has no significant power all the power to the prime minister who should be fairly elected. like Iraq, Israel and other countries, the problem with this kind of style democracy that we won’t ever have a civil election we will always have turmoil, destruction and chaos, unless the UN or other foreign agency supervise every election in the country.
to have democracy you have to have the basis which usually develop from within not the imposed on by outside powers or the religious leaders style version of democracy.
Syria is not KSA and it is not Somalia, can’t be ruled by militia and should not be ruled by Shiekhs.
Russia will have Assad step down, mark my words but not for a western person to clime the helm.
it is going to be a man who either worship Stalin or a man who is more look like Putin which is a new form of democratic dictator.
I am still cheering the blow to the USA face this morning, if anyone interested I have good AMERICAN burbon

I speak my mind too, but to be honest , I felt your last comment about Turkey, with a parting shot about the Kurds, was like a cheap shot at best. There was no need to bring up a statement from Davutoglu, and even lesser need for a parting comment about Kurds, especially since I hope you are aware, that in the Syrian Arab Republic, Kurds and “Arabs” ; as well as Assyrians and “Arabs” ; or even Armenians and “Arabs” for that matter, do not have an equal status, and that is officially enshrined in the Constitution

I do not accuse you of anything, but frankly, i find your numerous parting shots about women rights in KSA, labour rights in Qatar, Kurdish rights in Turkey, to be like cheap shots with no relevance at best, and malicious intent at worst.

I would like to continue to engage with you, and would like you to respond, in a calm manner ofcourse. Please don’t stop engaging with a poster even if you don’t like his comments.

Antoine,
There are Kurds in Syria who will be part of any future political settlement,and that will definitely affect Turkey,a country that does not have a good record about treating minorities ,but Turkish officials have no problem lecturing others about human rights
( and I have not even started talking about Turkish alevis), however, Turkey succeeded where Arabs have failed: giving its people the right to vote and accepting the principle of power sharing.
I have to be honest with you too,I rarely read your posts but I have no problem exchanging ideas with you or anybody who watches his tongue and stays away from the practice of verbal vandalism.

The timing to announce the reforms you mention is perfect as any reforms cannot be used by the opposition as a sign of weakness anymore.
Bashar is not ’embattled’ as the biased media have been trying to portray in the last few weeks, he is in full power with two very important ally that have rebuffed the megalomaniac Qatari’s regime change plan
I expect very important announcement soon.
In the meantime a SMS referendum has been announced on the Syrian TV asking the people to express their agreement/disagreement for a full scale intervention by the Syrian army in Edlib.
Last day to send the SMS is tomorrow.
Of course this ‘referendum’ will be dismissed by the opposition, but who cares.

Listen, Norman, the fact that the some people can’t realize is that this “destroying the armed gangs” , “destroying the militants” that some people are dreaming of for the last 5 months, is simply impossible, because the armed element in the Uprising is like a mirage, they just disappear into the shadows and again reappear in full force. Any large-scale military offensive will only kill more and more civilans, while not harming the FSA ( or other armed anti-regime groups) so that they are still able to carry out armed attacks, it only resulting in more and more dead civilians, ( a lot of them women, children and elderly), while resulting in more and more angry young men against the regime.

The Syrian Arab Republic, Arab stands for Arab land as we all mixed in Syria as we are mixed in the US, it is the united states of America, not that all born and bread in the US , so in the Syrian Arab republic , all people who live in Syria are equal, Armenians, Kurds, Assyrians , Orthodox, Sunni, Druz and Alawat and the constitution should reflect that all can be all what they can be, that is the only way to have Syria for all Syrians.

How can you be so sure the Kurds will be willing to be part of any future political settlement ? How can you draw conclsuions from what some self-appointed “Kurdish leaders” have to say, that too from Iraq, a country which has dubious conflict of interest ofissues when it comes to Syria.

Although I agree the Kurds will be much less militant thatn people from Hama or homs or idleb, the reason is not their Kurdishness, but the fact that the regime did not use any significant military force against anti-regime elements among the Kurds in the last 11 onths. And that was a clever move by the regime.

” Turkey,a country that does not have a good record about treating minorities ,”

Ghufran, can you name ONE country in the Middle East that has a good record in dealing with minorities ? ( or even majorities, as is the case in Bahrain, Syria, Israel and until recently, Iraq).

Even Syria, while ensuring safety of life and property to ethno-religous minorities, has trampled all over their cultural rights.

In my opinion, JORDAN scores the best when it comes to minorities, and anyone is free to disagree.

The Syrian Christians today, are in the same position as the Egyptian Christians under Mubarak, while their Rught to Life was secured, they were still in a vulnerable position and their cultural existence was obliterated by the Nasserist legacy, you cannot hope for a perfetcly secular State in a deeply chauvinstic and sectarian society.

Btw, Ghufran, Turksih Alevis are treated a lot way better than many Arab regimes treat minorities or non-conformists, whether they be Shias in Bahrain/KSA, Sunnis in Iraq, Palestinians in Lebanon, Muslims in Israel, Copts in Egypt, Kurds and/or Islamists in Syria.

The Leader of the Opposition in the Turkish Parliament is Alevi, if you didn’t know.

You are giving credibility to an SMS referendum run by the Syrian regime in regard to their current practice of wide scale military intervention?

Now, it might be only me, but I find your assertion of it’s credibility mind boggling and offensive. I truly honestly believe that even die-hard regime supporters, deep down in their mind, would not give any credibility to a regime-run referendum.

No offense Bronco, but an assertion like that is almost approaching a cult “love” that I seriously hope you do not have

People are misjudging the nature of the Turkish military dictatorships, whenever the Military took power, it always took care to RETURN power to the civilans, and moreover, the civilians did not have to ask the Military to return power, they did that on their own.

The Turkish Military dictators DID NOT create Cults of Personality like the baathists ( how many of us can name even a single Turkish military dictator ?), nor did they create theur own Party, nor did they try to influence the outcome of elections, nor did they try to create a One-Party State ; they did not try to create a monopoly over the economy, nor did they imdulge in mass corruption and cronyism.

Well, if you watch Angelina Jolie movie, it tells you otherwise (only one side of the story as usual). She is deflecting humanitarian propaganda as usual like posing with rebels in Libya (that is so so humanitarian forgetting that NATO killed between 70,000 civilians and rebel raped 200 women plus Khadafi himself). Oh but let’s not forget that out of all raped women by rebels in Libya, Anderson Cooper of CNN decided to focus on one woman ONLY raped by Khadafi’s men. Aren’t they all victims how could a genuine humanitarian pick and choose which victim is juicier to make the headline news? This is a nice link:

————
My question when all these Muslims were expelled/ slaughtered in Bosnia where was Qatar, Saudi Arabia to donate? All of a sudden Qatar is concerned about the poor Muslims in the suburb of France and busy buying arts and athletes….

If you don’t know the history the Ashraf camps, let me lecture you for once. The camp is composed of iranians defectors who fought together with Saddam Hossein against Iran. They are considered by the USA as terrorists.
They are now a big embarassment to the UN as no one wants them, now that he camp will be closed.

I enjoy how you associate Iran to Khomeini to Islamists. What is your opinion about Hezbollah then?

antoine,
I did not know you are from Turkey,cool,from what I see you are probably not an alevi,that is cool too.
I knew that there are alevis in the turkish political establishment,I posted a nice summary about alevis on this site few weeks ago.
are you referring to Kemal Kilcdaroglu or somebody else?
this guy is facing charges of insulting the judiciary by suggesting that they acted ” at the behest of the government” against its political opponenets.
Arabs and Arab governments can certainly learn from the turkish experience and I am sure that when there is a change of leadership ,in either Syria or Turkey, relations will go back to where it is supposed to be.
It is not a secret that I am not a fan of Turkish and Iranian regional policies,especially Iran,I also have relatives whose parents had to leave Liwaa iskandaroun after it was annexed by Turkey,some opposition bloggers prefer to call it Hatay,it is half the size of lebanon and it was given as a gift to Turkey in 1939,we can talk and disagree about how and why later on (you will hear that a referendum was conducted and people “chose” to join Turkey).My posts are not intended to be insulting but any time the words Kurd,Alevi or Armenian are mentioned,some Turkish friends get uncomfortable.
this post is a distraction from the subject,but that is what I do from time to time,sorry.

“The Turkish Military dictators DID NOT create Cults of Personality like the baathists”

Who are you kidding? There are posters of Ataturk at every corner of Turkey, even in buses.
I never saw such a cult of personality greater than I have seen in Turkey. Even Mao pales in front of the omnipresent Ataturk in homes, office, kitchens and stables.

I was wondering what kind of person who were to lecture us with such a tone of superiority, now I know.

I think a mobile phone is more available to all the social classes in Syria than the ‘internet’ users on which most ‘serious’ polls were based ( Pepperdine for example).

I agree that the result could be manipulated. Yet, if done under an independent supervision, I think it could become an excellent and easy tool to know what the common syrian think in the impossibility of conducting real referendums.

The fact that all Syrians are asked to vote is already a very interesting step further.

You have a point. Mobile phone poll is more inclusive than Internet poll but also has same limitations. One user can submit multiple times, the SEA can skew the results drastically, and people might not participate in fear of being tracked. Also, on top of all, the results can be easily manipulated.

the article from 497 is a good read.
the regime must go, for the benefit of all syrians,but a radical change by violent means is not a solution,it is a problem on its own. sadly,an orderly transfer of power and a thoughtful political reform seem more like a mirage than a real possibility.
I stand by my old idea that security and order need to be restored and reach an acceptable level before any political move can succeed,as for those barbaric sanctions that mostly hurt the poor,those sanctions show how much the average syrian is “loved” by the champions of democracy.

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Text of the proposed U.N. Security Council resolution on Syria that was vetoed Saturday by Russia and China:

List of Co-Sponsors: Morocco, France, United Kingdom, United States, Germany, Portugal, Colombia, Togo, Libya, Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Oman, Turkey.
The Security Council,
Recalling its presidential statement of 3 August 2011,
Recalling General Assembly resolution A/RES/66/176 of 19 December 2011, as well as Human Rights Council resolutions S/16-1, S/17-1 and S/18-1,
Noting the League of Arab States’ request in its decision of 22 January 2012,
Expressing grave concern at the deterioration of the situation in Syria, and profound concern at the death of thousands of people and calling for an immediate end to all violence,
Welcoming the League of Arab States’ Action Plan of 2 November 2011 and its subsequent decisions, including its decision of 22 January 2012, which aims to achieve a peaceful resolution of the crisis,
Noting the deployment of the League of Arab States’ observer mission, commending its efforts, regretting that, due to the escalation in violence, the observer mission was not in a position to monitor the full implementation of the League of Arab States’ Action Plan of 2 November 2011, and noting the subsequent decision of the League of Arab states to suspend the mission,
Underscoring the importance of ensuring the voluntary return of refugees and internally displaced persons to their homes in safety and with dignity,
Mindful that stability in Syria is key to peace and stability in the region,
Noting the announced commitments by the Syrian authorities to reform, and regretting the lack of progress in implementation,
Reaffirming its strong commitment to the sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity of Syria, emphasizing its intention to resolve the current political crisis in Syria peacefully, and noting that nothing in this resolution authorizes measures under Article 42 of the Charter,
Welcoming the engagement of the Secretary-General and all diplomatic efforts aimed at addressing the situation, and noting in this regard the offer of the Russian Federation to host a meeting in Moscow, in consultation with the League of Arab States,
1. Condemns the continued widespread and gross violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms by the Syrian authorities, such as the use of force against civilians, arbitrary executions, killing and persecution of protestors and members of the media, arbitrary detention, enforced disappearances, interference with access to medical treatment, torture, sexual violence, and ill-treatment, including against children;
2. Demands that the Syrian government immediately put an end to all human rights violations and attacks against those exercising their rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association, protect its population, fully comply with its obligations under applicable international law and fully implement the Human Rights Council resolutions S-16/1, S-17/1, S-18/1 and the General Assembly resolution A/RES/66/176;
3. Condemns all violence, irrespective of where it comes from, and in this regard demands that all parties in Syria, including armed groups, immediately stop all violence or reprisals, including attacks against State institutions, in accordance with the League of Arab States’ initiative;
4. Recalls that all those responsible for human rights violations, including acts of violence, must be held accountable;
5. Demands that the Syrian government, in accordance with the Plan of Action of the League of Arab States of 2 November 2011 and its decision of 22 January 2012, without delay:
(a) cease all violence and protect its population;
(b) release all persons detained arbitrarily due to the recent incidents;
(c) withdraw all Syrian military and armed forces from cities and towns, and return them to their original home barracks;
(d) guarantee the freedom of peaceful demonstrations;
(e) allow full and unhindered access and movement for all relevant League of Arab States’ institutions and Arab and international media in all parts of Syria to determine the truth about the situation on the ground and monitor the incidents taking place; and
(f) allow full and unhindered access to the League of Arab States’ observer mission;
6. Calls for an inclusive Syrian-led political process conducted in an environment free from violence, fear, intimidation and extremism, and aimed at effectively addressing the legitimate aspirations and concerns of Syria’s people, without prejudging the outcome;
7. Fully supports in this regard the League of Arab States’ 22 January 2012 decision to facilitate a Syrian-led political transition to a democratic, plural political system, in which citizens are equal regardless of their affiliations or ethnicities or beliefs, including through commencing a serious political dialogue between the Syrian government and the whole spectrum of the Syrian opposition under the League of Arab States’ auspices, in accordance with the timetable set out by the League of Arab States;
8. Encourages the League of Arab States to continue its efforts in cooperation with all Syrian stakeholders;
9. Calls upon the Syrian authorities, in the event of a resumption of the observer mission, to cooperate fully with the League of Arab States’ observer mission, in accordance with the League of Arabs States’ Protocol of 19 December 2011, including through granting full and unhindered access and freedom of movement to the observers, facilitating the entry of technical equipment necessary for the mission, guaranteeing the mission’s right to interview, freely or in private, any individual and guaranteeing also not to punish, harass, or retaliate against, any person who has cooperated with the mission;
10. Stresses the need for all to provide all necessary assistance to the mission in accordance with the League of Arab States’ Protocol of 19 December 2011 and its decision of 22 January 2012;
11. Demands that the Syrian authorities cooperate fully with the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and with the Commission of Inquiry dispatched by the Human Rights Council, including by granting it full and unimpeded access to the country;
12. Calls upon the Syrian authorities to allow safe and unhindered access for humanitarian assistance in order to ensure the delivery of humanitarian aid to persons in need of assistance;
13. Welcomes the Secretary-General’s efforts to provide support to the League of Arab States, including its observer mission, in promoting a peaceful solution to the Syrian crisis;
14. Requests the Secretary General to report on the implementation of this resolution, in consultation with the League of Arab States, within 21 days after its adoption and to report every 30 days thereafter;
15. Decides to review implementation of this resolution within 21 days and, in the event of non-compliance, to consider further measures;
16. Decides to remain actively seized of the matter.

sandro,
I appreciate your wrath against a corrupt and brutal regime that ruled Syria since the 1970s but you do not have to make it look like everybody who oppose the regime is either raped,jailed or dead.
the biggest mistake of the opposition,some of it at least, was taking up arms,first they said it is for self defense,then they said they will use it to protect civilians,then they said they will use it against armed regome forces who attack civilians,then they said they will use it to attack regime forces no matter what,and now they are engaged in a war against everything and everybody that may have the slightest link to the regime.
Now,every violent action that may have been committed by common thugs is blamed on the political opposition,it is a self-made trap and they fell in it like dumb rabbits.

Reading the text proposed by the UNSC, I think we are better off with the double vetoes. There is no mention for Bashar to step down or to transition power. I am not clear to what exactly the Russian concern with the text’s language.

I do not want to start thinking conspiracy theory but this veto appears almost agreed upon in advance. Hillary and Lavrov met in Munich. Hillary seemed relatively comfortable with how it proceeded but acted reserved,. Russia emerged threatening that if voting to take place on Saturday, it will certainly veto it, and despite that the SC meets early on Saturday and have a decision for us by noon. Lavrov and his chief intelligence officer announcing meeting with Bashar on Tuesday. Meeting about what exactly after blocking the resolution?

Is their a hidden plan agreed on by the US and Russia where the Russian regime can save face in front of it’s own people with the election coming yet stays in line with what the US wants.

taking the Syrian case to the UN before the AL was able to finish its mission,with a budget of less than $ 2 million,and before any indirect negotiations between the fighting parties take place was not a good move,it was meant to escalate not to mediate.
Articles 1,2,11,and 15,to name a few,have no actual purpose but to inflame the regime allies and ensure that the Syrian regime will ot abide by it. regardless of the PC talks,this resolution is intrusive and was a non starter,not because the regime is such a wonderful caring creature,but because efforts should focus on reaching a solution not scoring points or aggravating an already delicate situation.

I look at that video and I see healthy, normal, decent young men who have been tossed into a nightmare. Syrians’ sons, brothers, uncles, husbands, fathers, nephews, grandsons, friends, neighbours, colleagues. People of value with useful roles to play in life.

When I see a picture of Assad I see a bizarre-looking figure playing a fake unnatural role. Nothing there to value. A reminder that the game’s over in 2012 – humanity has evolved way beyond what he is and does.

conspiracy theorists insist that Russia and the US are almost in agreement about how to try to end the syrian crisis,and that Qatar et al are not in the “loop”. The story is that Bashar will either resign or remain in a mostly symbolic capacity while his deputy negotiate with the opposition and a unity government is formed and elections are planned.
I find it hard to believe that Qatar will act alone,and harder to believe that armed groups in the streets and militant factions in the opposition will accept anything short of a total regime change.Another twist is the whispers that a green light was given to the Syrian army to change the situation on the ground at any cost to convince others that the regime can not be toppled by force. I agree that a major declaration will come withing 3-5 days.

Several days ago I read an excellent post on Shiachat and after initially intending to share it it elsewhere including here I decided not to. Partly lazy. I’m posting it now.

Reading half way thru the first page of the thread I was like ‘wow! I have to share this’. It is a good thread worth reading. Many on there are supporting Assad but one or two sensible voices exist (Qaim,Fink and Marbles). One Syrian on there made a great point on the Salafi thing which I have also wondered. Here is the thread. See post below:

There are probably more Christians in the Syrian revolution than there are Salafis, and more Sufis than Christians. The only popular Syrian Salafis I’ve ever heard of were that kelb `Ar`ur, who lives in Saudi Arabia and has been there for decades, and Omar Bakri who is an outspoken supporter of Hezbollah in Lebanon. The idea that such a massive movement in over a hundred cities in towns consists of mainly Salafis is laughable to us. We didn’t know who the Salafis were until going to Saudi Arabia. There are a lot more Salafis in Palestine, Egypt, and Libya, and yet those revolts were encouraged by the Iranians (at least partially). If you want to talk about Salafis, talk about those three countries, not the 16 Salafis in Syria that are mostly sitting on their hands and measuring their beards. I’m frankly tired of hearing that it is a Salafi-majority movement which has almost 0 basis.

Syria’s Sunni population is much more like Turkey’s. If there are any extreme Salafi elements in Syria, they’d be in Damascus, which isn’t even a centre of protests right now, except for the outskirt areas. Are there Salafis in the protests? Maybe, it’s a country of 20+ million people so there are bound to be some Salafis here and there, but that would be putting a lot of emphasis on a group that does not represent even a quarter of the protesters. Same with the “foreign element” accusation – I haven’t heard of any foreigners going out in the protests, but if there were any, I’d be shocked if they were even 5%. In my opinion as a Syrian and probably the only Syrian to comment on this thread, the revolution consists mostly of students, young people, conservative Hanafi and Shafi`i Muslims, Sufi Shafi`is, almost every Syrian Kurd, many Christians, and perhaps most importantly, many thousands of military defectors. These are people who pray and fast, and that’s about it. Religiously, these are all common people with a common culture, as Syria is a country where Muslims and Christians have lived together and supported each other in their struggles. There are some sectarian frictions between some Sunnis and some Alawites yes, and some crimes that must be accounted for, but a few rabid dogs cannot taint a mass movement completely. If anyone’s sectarian, it’s the Ba`th, and it has been for 40 years both in Syria and Iraq, picking favoruties among minority groups and undermining the majority, unless you’ve got a portrait of Hafez and Bashar in your shop.

Anyhow, there’s more violence this very moment then at anytime during the 10 month revolt, because of the amount of military defectors especially in the last month. You don’t need to smuggle weapons into a police state when you’ve already got 10-30 thousand defectors taking their weapons and vehicles with them. There is at least some violence quite literally all over the country (including the Damascus outskirts and Aleppo), Homs and Rastan being the main battlegrounds at the moment. You know, all of this could have been avoided months ago. For the first 4 months of protests, there was no Free Syrian Army and the amount of shabeeha and military being targetted was minimal compared to now. But instead, our friends Bashar and Maher decided to stay on their high chair as long as possible. I was here posting almost 9 months ago saying Iran should facilitate a solution between the infant opposition and the regime, but instead it has fully taken one side and people here condemned the other as Salafis/Americans/Israelis/Saudis/Turks/Lebanese/al-Qaeda/Iraqis or all of the above. Of course, anything but Syrians, who absolutely adored 40 years of massacres of Syrians and Palestinians, leaving towns in ruin as a warning, prison sentences without trials, cult of personality, secular anti-Islamic policies, no speech freedoms, etc. And now that Arab League observers are out, they have presented another solution – Bashar leaves, a deputy unity government takes power and elections are held. I’m no fan of the Arab League, but this solution seems extremely reasonable to me. If you believe that the majority of Syrians absolutely adored the Ba`th, then what can you possibly be afraid of? If this were true, we’d vote the Ba`th back in right away. But deep inside you all know that this is not true, because Syrians don’t want secular dictatorships and Alawite supremacy, they want a Turkish-style democracy with Islamic, liberal, and socialist parties, just like Tunisia. That thought makes some people here want to pull out their hair, but most of these armchair jihadis are enjoying their freedoms, in the U.S or Britain or Lebanon or elsewhere, and want to deny others from doing the same. We’ve reached the point of no return – a compromise might be the best you get.

Read this and tell me if things have really changed.
I think Muzaffar Alnawwab was right when he said:
(بما معناه)
يا علي لو رجعت إلينا لحاربك الداعون إليك و سموك شيوعيا
Mossadegh was a Persian nobleman, born towards the end of the 19th century, who, as prime minister of Iran in the early 1950s, nationalised the country’s oil. This brought him into conflict with the British government, led by Winston Churchill, which, just before the outbreak of the first world war, had bought a majority stake in the Anglo-Persian Oil Company, with its concession in Iran. Churchill thought that if Mossadegh’s move was allowed to set a precedent, British imperial power would be under threat across the globe. At first the Americans were neutral, even inclining towards Mossadegh, but – in the Iranian version of events – the perfidious British persuaded them otherwise. Dwight Eisenhower, elected in 1953, feared that Mossadegh’s liberalism would lead to communism. The coup involved the dark arts in which the British and American secret services excelled: disinformation, unleashing agents provocateurs, paying thugs and politicians and forging documents. The tragedy is that it worked. The most enlightened Middle Eastern government of the age was overthrown, ushering in first the dictatorial regime of the Shah and then Ayatollah Khomeini’s Islamic Revolution.

I like the countries that support Syria, when Turkey was friend with Syria , I like Turkey and last year before this crises that killing Syrians i liked Qatar, but when Turkey and Qatar conspire to destroy Syria then they are my enemies, Iran is helping Syria getting the Golan heights by providing a balance to Israel strength, If the US helps Syria get the Golan and the rights of the Palestinians, Iran will feel the cold, Syria will never be like Iran, at least not if i have anything to do with that, Iran is a friend of necessity, you have to remember that when more than a million Iraqi came to Syria and Syria provided free health care and Education for them , non of these greedy Arab brothers like Saudi Arabia and Qatar did anything to help, they wanted to destroy Syria through the destruction of the economy, many things is going to change in Syria and Syria knows now who the the friends are and who are the enemies,

I agree with Norman that Syria,somehow,had no choice but to ally itself with Iran,however,this marriage of necessity can end when there is no need for it,but unlike Ghalioun,responsible politicians will always make policies that are in the country’s national interest. Ghalioun’s position on Hizbullah and Iran was reactionary and narrow minded.
I understand many Syrians’ frustration with the support the regime receives from Tehran but that does not justify having a teenish attitude about foreign policy.
More on Iran:
By Geneive Abdo and Reza H. Akbari – Special to CNN
Will Iran retaliate if attacked? Israeli intelligence officials and neo-conservative pundits in the United States argue that Iran is bluffing – that it wouldn’t dare.
But on Tuesday, U.S. Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper Jr. powerfully rebutted this view. Clapper argued not only that Iran would retaliate, but that some Iranian officials are now even willing to carry out attacks on U.S. soil.
In his unclassified statement submitted to the U.S. Senate’s Select Committee on Intelligence, Clapper said: “Iran’s willingness to sponsor future attacks in the United States or against our interests abroad probably will be shaped by Tehran’s evaluation of the costs it bears for the plot…as well as Iranian leader’s perception of U.S. threats against the regime.”
The issue of survival is not taken lightly by the Iranian military and political establishments. According to an article published by the Guardian, an Iranian idiom is quite popular among military officials, “If we drown, we’ll drown everyone with us.” The Iranian regime is prepared to fight until the end.
Many foreign leaders, such as France’s Nicholas Sarkozy are also very worried about the implications of a potential military conflict with Iran. As reported by the German publication Spiegel, during his New Year’s address to diplomats in Paris, Sarkozy stated, “A military intervention [in Iran] would not solve the problem [of Iran’s nuclear program], but would trigger war and chaos in the Middle East and maybe the world.
Such conclusions are far more realistic than that of a retired Israeli official who told the New York Times: “I am not saying Iran will not react. But it will be nothing like London during World War II.”
In the eyes of the Iranian regime, this is a fight for survival far more threatening than the domestic challenge presented by the protest movement of millions of Iranian demonstrators in 2009.

“7. Fully supports in this regard the League of Arab States’ 22 January 2012 decision to facilitate a Syrian-led political transition to a democratic, plural political system…”

It is unclear what the “decision of the 22 january 2012” really means.

The Russian say that it could be later interpreted as the “full support for the Arab League Plan” that requests Bashar to step down. They asked for the rewording to make it clearer, but it was rejected because Qatar and its allies were pressing for a hasty vote.

That is what a western official said before the vote that confirms what that clause meant for most countries:

“We have the text on the table. We’ve made considerable efforts to go to the Russia. No it’s over. This text is simple: We support the arab league peace plan, nothing more, nothing less. We are not going to move from that. we vote today.”

“true” who I believe used to blog here visited Syria at the end of December. His stories about the visit is published on hitaan blog which I read at times.
I was pleasantly surprised to see that going through his diary about that visit was a decent read,I hope some of you care to check it out.
Regardless of true’s political views and his clear bias against alawis,I commend him for his courage hoping that he did not do anything to support violent elements in the opposition.there is also a level of honesty in his report,that is commendable too.
I now have at least a dozen people I either know or pretend to know who checked things as they are and not as reported on aljazeera and similar outlets.
The conclusion is clear: Syria is divided,the regime can not be toppled by force and syrians should stop fighting and start talking to each other.

“this marriage ( with Iran) of necessity can end when there is no need for it,”

I disagree with you. If you exclude the hardcore religious supporters of the regime, Iranians have a lot to offer in the area of sciences, arts and culture, much more than any Arab country and even more than Turkey who has ‘free morals’ that are not compatible with Syria’s mentality.
It may have started with a marriage of necessity, but it may turn out to be long term fruitful marriage.

It’s unfortunate the revolution took the path of deceive and lies to further their cause, all they did is making people who like to see change and see Syria become a better place get disgusted and weary of them and what they would do if they hold power, most Syrians do not want to exchange the people at the helm, we need a real change in the thinking of people and to eliminate sectarianism and dehumanization of one another, most inhabitants of cities in Syria hate each others, Homsi hates Hamwi and Hamwi hates Halabi and all hates Shami, this is apparent in the jokes you hear about one another, last week I read a post on 7etan for someone who visited Syria and you can the feel the despise he holds for people of Damascus and how he felt mad because they did not hold his views.
It’s obvious that there were not 330 people killed, if there were we would have seen all of them displayed one after another, and the opposition if they want to fight the army they should not run crying when the army use real force on them, government did not use it’s heavy weapons or airforce yet, they are showing more restraint than the u s showed in baghded

Just to remind the readers. Assad’s allies: Russia, Iran, Hezbollah and some groups in Lebanon, Sudan’s genocide generals, China, some factions in Iraq.

The enemies of Assad’s Syria: Turkey, the GCC, all Arab states who voted on Jan. 22 plan, Europe, the U.S., Canada, Australia, the 13 members of the Security Council who voted for the resolution today.

The battle in Syria has pitted the free world, where people aren’t killed with polonium or gunned down by soldiers in public squares, against the communist-lite dictatorships and genocidal tyrants.

Which side are you on?

So menhebaks, celebrate the vetoes just like many Israelis rejoice in U.S. backing for the occupation. And please enjoy all the freedoms of the West that you would never want for both your Syrian brothers nor your closest of allies in Russia, China and Iran.

The question that should be asked is why did the West make so many concessions to Russia in just a few days of “negotiations” than it did in the few months before October? Why did they push for the vote knowing it was doomed? In my opinion, it was because Russia requested that Dabi attend a UNSC session to discuss the Arab Monitors’ report on Syria. They had to end this round early because if Dabi’s testimony were to become on the record in the UNSC, it would expose the fabrications of the AL and west and their media.

It was so bizarre how Arabi and Hamad kept yapping about the AL “efforts” for Syria, and at the same time, refusing to bring Dabi with them and not even providing the UNSC with the Arab Monitor Mission’s report. That was the bulk of AL action and it was not provided for debate, scratch that, it was not provided for simple viewing!! I think the real reason for suspending the monitor mission was just so that Dabi would not have an official platform from which to speak to the international community and media.

By the way, for those who are looking for the report (I’m not sure if it was already posted on here), here is an English version of it. http://www.innercitypress.com/LASomSyria.pdf Sorry that I couldn’t find the Arabic version. It is incredible how hard it is to find this stuff when the west doesn’t want the people to know the truth. Amnesty International or Human Rights Watch (I forgot which) were demanding that the Arab Monitor Mission’s report be made public and sent immediately to the UNSC, but then when the report actually came out, both of them acted as if the report did not exist. Monitor mission? What monitor mission?

PS: Anyone else notice how Dr. Landis’ testimony to CNN and other publications differ grossly from his blog postings? Good job Landis! I sincerely hope the money goes a long way to you achieving your life’s goals.

Omar Brebesh, who served as Libyan ambassador to France under Muammar Gaddafi, was detained in the capital Tripoli on January 19.

His body appeared in hospital the next day 100km southwest in Zintan, the town where Gaddafi’s son Saif al-Islam is currently being held, with multiple injuries and fractured ribs that indicated he had been tortured to death, the rights group’s report said.

“Human Rights Watch read a report by the judicial police in Tripoli, which said that Brebesh had died from torture and that an unnamed suspect had confessed to killing him,” the statement said, adding that photos of Brebesh’s body show welts, cuts, and the apparent removal of toenails.
…

> I am not clear to what exactly the Russian concern with the text’s language.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Saturday explained why Russia had vetoed a resolution on Syria in the UN Security Council, saying that without Russia’s latest amendments, the draft would be unilateral and would harm Syria if adopted.
The Russian foreign minister said extremist groups that provoke violence in Syria should be assessed in a proper way, which has not been done. He said the resolution did not set enough demands on anti-government armed groups, and that Russia was concerned it could jeopardize Syria’s national political dialogue.
Besides, he said, the draft resolution contained a demand that all Assad’s forces should withdraw from cities and towns.
“This phrase, without being linked to a simultaneous termination of violence on the part of armed extremist groups, is absolutely provocative, as no president with self-respect, no matter how treated, will agree to surrender inhabited localities to armed extremists without resistance,” he said.http://en.ria.ru/russia/20120205/171151527.html

502. Dear Tara:
The Russians wanted the SC to play a mere guest of honour signatory to the AL proposal that was originally, as per GCC officials, brokered with Russia’s agreement. Such will provide an international legitimacy to its outcome, without tthe SC having a say in it’s proceedings!

Other SC members probably view The AL proposal as so vague that, it can easily be interpreted and applied as is by The Russian axis, so as to maintain the status quo, with the “delusional hope’ that the regime eventually regains control of the street and forces Russian-Iranian-Assadian brand of reforms.

The resultant state would be a mutant form of Dictocracy, with a facade of Sunni Religious overtones a la Iran, 3alawi controlled Mukhabarat undertones a la Putin, and 3alawi controlled, brutal army a la Assad Syria!

The Russians vetoed the resolution for two reasons:
FIRST, it authorises the SC to broker, monitor and facilitate the implementation of its items. Therefore, in case of non-compliance SC can set into motion additional measures to force its implementation without the need for another voting session! (Items: 11 to 16 in the resolution).

SECOND, It holds accountable those who were responsible for crimes against humanity. Such implies the probable accountability of regime elements for crimes against humanity and the prospect of dragging the Junta to the international courts of justice. (Item 4. Recalls that all those responsible for human rights violations, including acts of violence, must be held accountable).

The AL monitors report is an ok read. Most of it has been discussed and it’s very short on details of violence. There is a table on what kind of cars the mission has, and fun details like the Chinese embassy giving the mission ten two-way radios.

One thing that jumps out is that despite countless meetings with the opposition in dangerous neighborhoods, where terrorists have killed soldiers and protesters for almost a year, the only time that the observers were harmed was in Latakia by the pro-Assad crowd.

“In Latakia, thousands surrounded the Mission’s cars, chanting slogans in favour of the President and against the Mission. The situation became out of control and monitors were attacked. Two sustained light injuries and an armoured car was completely crushed.”

And here is the analysis of the armed opposition which Qatar and the Western world are allegedly trying to cover up.

“The Mission determined that there is an armed entity that is not mentioned in the protocol. This development on the ground can undoubtedly be attributed to the excessive use of force by Syrian Government forces in response to protests that occurred before the deployment of the Mission demanding the fall of the regime.”

“The Mission was informed by the opposition, particularly in Dar‘a, Homs, Hama and Idlib, that some of its members had taken up arms in response to the suffering of the Syrian people as a result of the regime’s oppression and tyranny; corruption, which affects all sectors of society; the use of torture by the security agencies; and human rights violations.”

No arguments about the toxic addition Israel makes to the mix and the lack of assistance from the Gulf to refugee Iraqis. Instead, the Saudis poured massive funds into Iraq to support the Sunni insurgency, bribing tribes, buying up land, further distorting the economy and destabilising Iraq. All to keep Iran at bay.

The problem with the Iranian/Syrian alliance is that it is the ill-judged decision of the small groups running their regimes, not based on the best interests or wishes of the people in those countries. It is costing both countries a lot of global respect and support, inflicting economic isolation and security risks on their citizens, attracting mischief from others (note Saudi Arabia and Iraq above) and would probably be seen as pointless and reckless by many Iranians and Syrians.

Back in 2006 there was open unhappiness in Iran about the government rebuilding Shia areas in Lebanon when many things in their own country were neglected.

The Syrian and Iranian regimes are proving to be reckless posturers with stale expiry dates who are driving their countries over a cliff. The Syrian and Iranian people are not.

Here is a longer video of the berlin embassy attack. To my surprise the police was quite hesitative to act, this area where the embassy is is near the government quarter and many more embassies are near to them.

OP 1. Line 2 to read: “…freedoms by the Syrian authorities, especially the use of force against civilians” (end text of OP 1).

OP 3. In line 2 after “immediately stop…” insert “violations of human rights,”.

Start line 3 with “including intimidation of civilians and attacks against State institutions…”

Add new OP 3 bis: “Calls for all sections of the Syrian opposition to dissociate themselves from armed groups engaged in acts of violence and urges member-states and all those in a position to do so to use their influence to prevent continued violence by such groups”;

Para 4 (c). Add at the end of subpara: “…in conjunction with the end of attacks by armed groups against state institutions and quarter of cities and towns”;

OP 6-7. Move the phrase “without prejudging the outcome” from the end of para 6 to the end of para 7.

OP 9. Delete from line 1 “in the event of a resumption of the observer mission”.

OP 10. Reformulate line 1 to read: “Stresses the need for armed groups not to obstruct the mission’s work and calls upon all to provide all necessary assistance to the mission in accordance…”

PP 11 bis (optional):

“Expressing support for the broad trend of political transition to democratic, plural political systems in the Middle East,

Russia is focused on attacks against state institutions by armed groups, that the Syrian opposition “dissociate themselves from armed groups,” and moving the concession it got on Paragraph 6 (“without prejudging the outcome”) over to Paragraph 7 about the Arab League plan.

Under the amendments, Assad would only have to pull out as the armed groups also do, and only “takes into account” the Arab League timeline. But it offers “optional” support of Arab Spring II.

On her way in to the Security Council, US Ambassador Susan Rice called the amendments “unacceptable.” French Ambassador Gerard Araud said that “some newspapers” already said it was watered down too much, and said there would be a vote Saturday.

UNITED NATIONS, February 4 — As the draft resolution on Syria came to a head in the UN Security Council, Russia’s Ambassador Vitaly Churkin called a closed door meeting Saturday morning on one page of amendments (which Inner City Press obtained and exclusively published, here.)

The consultations were limited to the Number One ambassador of which of the Council’s 15 members. They came out, and after a half hour lull, voted on the draft resolution without amendments. Russia vetoed, as did China.

US Ambassador Susan Rice called it “disgusting” and UK Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant was “appall[ed].”

Loulichki of Morocco, stated sponsor of the draft resolution, would not answer which of the amendments had been the deal break, telling Inner City Press to ask Vitaly Churkin. As he said this, Ambassador Rice to the side of the stakeout indicated that unlike Loulichki, she would answer this.

And Rice did, referring back to Inner City Press’ question and saying

“this is to answer your question, Matt: What was unacceptable, first and foremost, was the amendments that would have rewritten the Arab League plans, both Arab League plans-the one of November 2nd, which both parties have agreed to and committed to but the Syrian government hasn’t implemented but which indeed the Russian Federation has supported…. They were also not offered during the course of the week when we were engaged in meaningful efforts at negotiations but rather at the 11th hour with a request that the vote be delayed until some indefinite point next week.” [Video here, Min 18]

UK Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant, as transcribed by the UK Mission to the UN, said

“one of the amendments put forward by Russia this morning was to suggest watering down the demand that had been accepted by Assad three months ago to withdraw military forces from the cities on the very day when they [the Syrian regime] were using tanks and artillery to kill their people, I think was what persuaded most people that we could not wait any longer and we would have to go to a vote and that countries would have to stand and up and be counted.”

The problem is, the Russian amendment reads as follows:

Para 4 (c). Add at the end of subpara: “…in conjunction with the end of attacks by armed groups against state institutions and quarter of cities and towns”

At the stakeout, on UNTV, Inner City Press read out loud this language to Lyall Grant to get his reaction. Video here, Minute 27. But in the UK Mission transcript, the question is made vague:

“Q: What was specifically unacceptable about that Russian amendment?”

Perhaps there is some protocol of changing the questions that are asked. Or, in fairness, of only transcribing the answers, while approximating the question. It made a difference in this case; a subsequent speaker hearkened back to the question that was asked of Lyall Grant, but the UK put out a transcript without the question in it. The UK transcript has Lyall Grant answer the untranscribed question:

“The suggestion was to change the sequence. That somehow the armed groups would have to withdraw first, and then the regime forces.”

Inner City Press asked, not softly, doesn’t “in conjunction” mean at the same time? But that’s not in the UK transcript.

When Vitaly Churkin came to the stakeout, he zeroed in on this, citing Inner City Press’ question — left untranscribed by the UK Mission — and saying that Lyall Grant misquoted his amendment. Churkin said, video here from Minute 39:30:

“where we did say that the troops must pull out of the cities in conjunction, as Matthew correctly quoted from our amendment, with a pullout of the armed groups who were trying to take control of various cities and quarters in various cities. For some reason ambassador Lyall Grant chose to tell you there was a suggestion that they should be pulling first. I have no idea where he took that from. This is the problem we face, unfortunately, in the Council. Some colleagues dealing with the media choose to present a rather bizarre interpretation of proposals made by the Russian Federation.”

Then again, Churkin also said he was puzzled at Inner City Press’ read-out of his 11 bis, “optional” amendment, “Expressing support for the broad trend of political transition to democratic, plural political systems in the Middle East.”

Some saw that as a swipe at some of the resolution’s sponsors, perhaps the same ones of whom Syrian Ambassador Bashar Ja’afari, in the chamber, accused of not allowing women to attend soccer game. (One online pundit replied, “That would be Iran.” But there are others, including US allies.)

French Ambassador Gerard Araud did not take any questions about the amendments, but said on his own that he had been willing to show flexibility and insert the word “extremist groups” for “armed groups” as those to be dissociated with. Inner City Press was ready to ask further, but it did not happen.

But Inner City Press asked German Ambassador Wittig about what Araud had said, about flexibility. Wittig replied that “we would have been lenient on one or two things.” Which ones?

A cynic — or analyst — might describe Saturday’s proceedings as theater, with some countries try to show their home audience how hard they are pushing, despite knowing the resolution would be vetoed and that Russia and China cannot really be made to feel ashamed about it.

Click here for Russia’s “Philosophy of the Veto,” as Churkin expounded to Inner City Press last week, and here for what Li Baodong told Inner City Press on February 1 about language China would and would not accept — seemingly contrary to UK Ambassador Lyall Grant’s comment that China “did not express any particular concerns about the text over several days of negotiations.”

As to the 11th hour stridency of the sponsors, one real cynical said, “Once you’ve sold out 80%, why not go to 85% to avoid the veto?”

As many asked, what next? Pushing for the Saturday afternoon vote and getting the veto, it is hard to see what the sponsors of the resolution do next. We’ll be here
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BEIJING (AFP) – China’s official Xinhua news agency said Beijing and Moscow’s veto of a UN Security Council resolution on Syria was designed to prevent more “turbulence and fatalities” in the violence-hit state.

Russia and China’s Saturday veto of a resolution condemning Syria’s crackdown on protests has sparked an international outcry, and came just hours after reports that troops in the city of Homs had killed hundreds of civilians.

His Chinese counterpart Li Baodong said pushing through such “a vote when parties are still seriously divided … will not help maintain the unity and authority of the Security Council, or help resolve the issue.”

In a comment piece on Sunday, Xinhua said the veto — the second by the two countries since the start of violence in the Middle Eastern state a year ago — “was aimed at further seeking peaceful settlement of the chronic Syrian crisis.”

“With the veto, Russia and China believed more time and patience should be given to a political solution to the Syrian crisis, which would prevent the Syrian people from more turbulence and fatalities,” it said.

Russia and China — which both have veto power as two of the five permanent members of the Security Council — were the only countries to vote against the resolution.

The draft resolution was put forward by Morocco, and had called for an immediate end to all violence. It did not impose any sanctions, nor did it authorise military action.

Washington said it was “disgusted” with China and Russia’s rare double veto and France denounced the massacre in the city of Homs as a “crime against humanity.”

Russia — for whom Syria is its last remaining major ally in the Middle East — has announced that Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will travel to Damascus on Tuesday to press President Bashar al-Assad to discuss a political solution.
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An interview with the Palestinian historian Salim Nazzal – February 5th, 2012

After one year of the Arab spring, how would you evaluate the Arab spring, and where do you think it would lead the Middle East?

Nazzal: Where this leads is a difficult question to answer. I have written in the third week of the Arab spring that the Middle East before the Arab revolution was not the same Middle East after the Arab revolution. At this stage I sensed that the impact of the movement of change is stronger than ever. Yet I must say that nobody at that time could predict that it would expand quickly to several Arab countries, which is very much like the 1848 revolution in Europe. Which has expanded to almost all Europe in short time. These revolutions are obviously emerging from decades of repression and it’s a clear message that it has become almost impossible to run a globalized Arab generation with old fashioned rules. But as the camel that can never see its hump, Arab regimes were the last to know that a major break with the past is taking place.

They failed to understand that the protests are far beyond small demands, but rather a sweeping radical change. Some call it political tsunami or political volcano, but regardless of name, these revolutions will definitely change the whole political scene in the region in the decades to come. And even if the winds of the revolution are limited to 6 Arab countries, I think no Arab country would escape this change. But I must note that the course of the change might vary from one country to other.

For the time being we see that the change in some countries are getting more and more complicated. In Tunis and Egypt the revolutions were quick and relatively peaceful and the causalities were very small. But this is not the case in Libya where around 60,000 were killed. That’s why, we see a growing concern about how things are developing, and this concern began with the revolution in Libya where the NATO helped the rebellions in Libya. Today the scene in Syria is even more complicated than in Libya. Many indications show that the course of change in Syria is taking a bloody course which may threaten the integrity of Syria and the region.

There are also some concerns about the Islamists who are the major winner in these revolutions. We need however to note that the Muslim brotherhood party established in 1928 has been oppressed by several Arab government and never allowed to operate legally. Moreover the Islamist discourse has been significantly modified in the last decade. They call for instance to a civil state and not religious state. This naturally has given them more credibility than ever. Yet time will tell what could be their position towards the question of democracy and power shift when they are in power. But for the time being it is very obvious that they gain much support from the masses.

Yet the question remains, are we heading towards democratic change or perhaps a chaotic situation, it is difficult to tell at this moment. Off coerce all of us are hoping of a transition towards democracy, but you know that constructing democratic regimes in an area which was governed by repressive regimes is not a one night work. This is a long process that might take a whole generation’s time. In addition to the fact that there are many local, regional, and international actors, all those actors will influence the current movements of change in the Middle East.

What is the impact of the Arab Spring on the Arab western relations?

Nazzal: Well, in the Middle East people there is a strong belief not without evidence that the west is mainly interested in the oil and in protecting the Zionist state.

The United States of America played a major role in supporting the oppressive Arab regimes in the past decades. But when the current revolution erupted we saw that the USA tried to portray itself as it is on the side of the revolution and not on the side of the regimes which it has been supporting.

This is obviously a political game and not a heart change. I doubt much that the USA is seriously interested in real democracy in the region simply because real Arab democracy will challenge the USA interests. And Israel is very much scared of any democratic change in the region and this is obvious from the Israeli concern about these revolutions. But we see now that the USA is trying to construct bridges with the Islamists in order to preserve its interest, and the USA interests are still the same, oil and Israel.

In the last months we saw several protests in the Arab oil countries and the USA shows no concern about these protests which reflects the real American position.

While the EU has shown more signs of supporting the change towards democracy. This does not equal to say that Europe is devoted to democracy in the Middle East, but I think Europe is much more rational than the United States in this question.

However we need not to forget that the current Arab Spring has an impact on the western traditional thinking which took for granted that Arabs are unable to struggle for freedom and for democracy. This explains in my view the attitude change which is taking place in the west towards Arabs. This change would not have happened without the Arab Spring and the sacrifices of Arab young men and woman. Therefore I tend to believe that Arab Spring governments will likely run an independent policy in its relationship with the west.

What is the impact of the Arab Spring on the Palestinian struggle for freedom?

Nazzal: Let me say in principle that the Palestinian struggle benefits from any change towards democracy in the Arab world. We know from past history that Arab oppressive regimes did not support Palestinians and in some cases like with Egypt it helped in besieging Palestinians.

In fact part of the western support to the state of Israel was because Israel marketed itself as the only democracy in the Middle East. Of course we know that this is another Zionist lie, but we cannot ignore the fact that it succeeded in this business for a few decades. The change towards democracy in the Arab region and the tendency towards the right wing in the state of Israel will gradually lead towards weakening the Zionist state and that naturally will aid the Palestinian struggle for freedom.

But I doubt there will be an immediate major impact on Palestine because these Arab countries will need time to reconstruct itself assuming that things go fine. The unemployment in most of these countries is over 30 percent, this means the new government needs a first aid economical policy to work out the immediate problems. But I have no doubt that Israel will be the major looser of a democratic Middle East and Palestine will be the winner.

Another impact on the Palestinian struggle is the fact that Palestine needs its own spring. For instance the Palestine national council needs to be elected and not appointed. The Palestinian legislative council needs to be more active in the Palestinian political life. These are just two examples of many things that must be worked out.

Therefore I think Palestinian leadership needs to review its policy following the Arab Spring. They need to think of a new struggle strategy on light of these developments.

Sarkozy said on Saturday Paris was consulting with Arab and European countries to create a Syrian contact group to find a solution to the crisis after Russia and China vetoed a resolution at the U.N. Security Council.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy said on Saturday Paris was consulting with Arab and European countries to create a Syrian contact group to find a solution to the crisis after Russia and China vetoed a resolution at the U.N. Security Council.

Sarkozy said in a statement, “It is consulting with its Arab and European partners to create a ‘Friends of the Syrian People Group’ with the goal of giving international support to implement the Arab League transition plan.”

The Lebanese Army over the weekend prevented infiltration of a group of radical Islamists who were attempting to enter Syria, report said. The report on Lebanese television said that the group had planned to enter Syria at an area where the Lebanon, Syria, and Israeli borders met.

The report said that the group had previously attempted to enter Syria by sailing from Cyprus, but had failed.

Russia and China have vetoed the UN Security Council draft resolution on Syria pointing to the existence of armed groups involved in the killing of civilians as well as terrorist acts.

These armed groups have been involved since the outset of the “protest movement” in Daraa, southern Syria, in March 2011.

The statement of Russia’s envoy to the UN Viktor Churkin does not mention who is behind these armed groups.

“Churkin said that resolution’s Western co-sponsors had not included key proposals such as isolating the Syrian opposition from violent extremist groups or a call to arms for other states to use their influence to prevent such alliances”. (Russia Today, February 4, 2012)

Ironically, Russia’s decision to veto the resolution is consistent with the report of the Arab League’s Observer Mission to Syria, which confirms the existence of an “Armed Entity”.

Unexpectedly, however, neither Washington nor the Arab League, which commissioned the Observer Mission to Syria in the first place, have accepted the interim report presented by the AL Mission.

Why? Because the Mission –integrated by independent observers from Arab League countries– provides a balanced and objective assessment of what is happening on the ground inside Syria. It does not serve as a mouthpiece for Washington and the governments of Arab states.

It points to the existence of an “Armed Entity”; it acknowledges that “armed opposition groups” including the Syria Free Army are involved in criminal and terrorist acts.

“In some zones, this armed entity reacted by attacking Syrian security forces and citizens, causing the Government to respond with further violence. In the end, innocent citizens pay the price for those actions with life and limb.

“In Homs, Idlib and Hama, the Observer Mission witnessed acts of violence being committed against Government forces and civilians that resulted in several deaths and injuries. Examples of those acts include the bombing of a civilian bus, killing eight persons and injuring others, including women and children, and the bombing of a train carrying diesel oil. In another incident in Homs, a police bus was blown up, killing two police officers. A fuel pipeline and some small bridges were also bombed. ”

“Such incidents include the bombing of buildings, trains carrying fuel, vehicles carrying diesel oil and explosions targeting the police, members of the media and fuel pipelines. Some of those attacks have been carried out by the Free Syrian Army and some by other armed opposition groups.”

While the Mission does not identify the foreign powers behind “the armed entity”, its report dispels the mainstream media lies and fabrications, used by Washington to push for “regime change” in Syria.

The AL Mission report also intimates that political pressure was exerted by government officials to unreservedly support Washington’s political stance.

Moreover, the Mission was also pressured into upholding the lies and fabrications of the mainstream media, which have been used to demonize the government of Bashar al Assad:

“Some observers reneged on their duties and broke the oath they had taken. They made contact with officials from their countries and gave them exaggerated accounts of events. Those officials consequently developed a bleak and unfounded picture of the situation.”

In recent development, the Arab League has announced that the Observer Mission will be withdrawn from Syria.

Armed Groups Inside Syria

There is ample evidence that the armed groups including Salafists, Al Qaeda affiliated militia as well as Muslim Brotherhood are covertly supported by Turkey, Israel and Saudi Arabia.

The insurgency in Syria has similar features to that of Libya, which was directly supported by British Special Forces operating out of Benghazi. According to former CIA official Philip Giraldi:

“NATO is already clandestinely engaged in the Syrian conflict, with Turkey taking the lead as U.S. proxy. Ankara’s foreign minister, Ahmet Davitoglu, has openly admitted that his country is prepared to invade as soon as there is agreement among the Western allies to do so. The intervention would be based on humanitarian principles, to defend the civilian population based on the “responsibility to protect” doctrine that was invoked to justify Libya. Turkish sources suggest that intervention would start with creation of a buffer zone along the Turkish-Syrian border and then be expanded. Aleppo, Syria’s largest and most cosmopolitan city, would be the crown jewel targeted by liberation forces.

Unmarked NATO warplanes are arriving at Turkish military bases close to Iskenderum on the Syrian border, delivering weapons from the late Muammar Gaddafi’s arsenals as well as volunteers from the Libyan Transitional National Council who are experienced in pitting local volunteers against trained soldiers, a skill they acquired confronting Gaddafi’s army. Iskenderum is also the seat of the Free Syrian Army, the armed wing of the Syrian National Council. French and British special forces trainers are on the ground, assisting the Syrian rebels while the CIA and U.S. Spec Ops are providing communications equipment and intelligence to assist the rebel cause, enabling the fighters to avoid concentrations of Syrian soldiers.

The Role of US Ambassador Robert Stephen Ford:

US Ambassador Robert Stephen Ford, who arrived in Damascus in January 2011, played a central role in setting the stage for an armed insurrection in Syria. As “Number Two” at the US embassy in Baghdad (2004-2005) under the helm of Ambassador John D. Negroponte, Ford played a key role in implementing the Pentagon’s “Iraq Salvador Option”. The latter consisted in supporting Iraqi death squadrons and paramilitary forces modelled on the experience of Central America in the early 1980s.

Ford’s mandate in Damascus is to replicate the “Salvador Option” in Syria, by promoting covertly the development of an armed insurrection.

Reports point to the development of a full-fledged and well organized armed insurgency supported, trained and equipped by NATO and Turkey’s High Command. According to Israeli intelligence sources:

NATO headquarters in Brussels and the Turkish high command are meanwhile drawing up plans for their first military step in Syria, which is to arm the rebels with weapons for combating the tanks and helicopters spearheading the Assad regime’s crackdown on dissent. Instead of repeating the Libyan model of air strikes, NATO strategists are thinking more in terms of pouring large quantities of anti-tank and anti-air rockets, mortars and heavy machine guns into the protest centers for beating back the government armored forces. (DEBKAfile, NATO to give rebels anti-tank weapons, August 14, 2011)

A US-NATO led intervention, which would inevitably involve Israel, is already on the drawing board of the Pentagon. According to military and intelligence sources, NATO, Turkey and Saudi Arabia have been discussing “the form this intervention [in Syria] would take” (Ibid).
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Israel and Germany signed a contract a few weeks ago finalizing the sale of a sixth Dolphin class submarine to the Israel Navy, The Jerusalem Post has learned.

The Defense Ministry initiated talks with Germany last year about buying a sixth submarine but Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government initially balked when Israel asked that it underwrite part of the cost. In late November, though, Germany announced that it had approved the deal and that it would pay for part of the vessel.

Christian Schmidt, secretary of state for defense, told the Post that the contract was signed a few weeks ago and that Germany had agreed to subsidize its cost. Calling Israel a “preferred customer,” Schmidt said the sale of the submarine was a demonstration of his country’s commitment to Israel’s security.

“The security of the State of Israel is a German concern and this will not change,” he said during a visit to Israel during which he met with Israeli diplomatic and defense officials and attended the Herzliya Conference.
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Anti-NATO radar demo held in Ankara
News | 05.02.2012 | 11:42
A group of Turkish activists has held a demonstration in Ankara to voice their opposition to the Turkish government’s decision to host a NATO radar system in